Patna Mega Opposition Meet: Consensus on United Fight Against BJP, Say Sources

Patna: A consensus among the opposition leaders emerged in the meeting underway on Friday in Patna to fight together to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Narendra Modi in the next Lok Sabha elections. Most of the opposition leaders have agreed to fight unitedly against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance to defeat it.

This was revealed by a senior leader of JanataDal-United,a major ally of ruling Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, toNewsclick.
The much awaited Opposition meeting formally began on Friday at noon in Patna, With leaders from 15 Opposition Parties attending to discuss the strong opposition unity to defeat the BJP.

The meeting is underway at Samvad Bhawan, a building close to the high security sprawling official residence of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.This is the first meeting of opposition parties.

All Eyes are on the outcome of marathon meeting as top leaders including congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, NationalistCongress Party leader Sharad Pawar and six CMs of non-BJP-ruled states and four former CMs and others have been taking part in deliberation on issues to defeat BJP.
According To theseniorJD-U leader close to Kumar, the de facto chief of JD-U, who is hosting the opposition meeting here, Kumar may be named as convenor of united opposition.
Ajoint press conference is likely to be held after the meeting at which a joint statement by all Oppositionleadersattendingthe meeting may be issued.
"A Joint statement is likely to announce a united opposition to fight the next elections together to defeat the BJP. The statement will also mention many more points on direct fight between the Opposition and BJP on the one-against-one formula. There will be some hints onseat=sharingformula and issues to counter saffron agenda".

According To sources in JD-U, there was no discussion to name a Prime ministerial candidate in the meeting.
West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee has reportedly urged all opposition leaders to rise above vested interests and ambition to fight together to defeat BJP during her address in meeting.

However, Rahul Gandhi, ahead of the Opposition meeting, told hundreds of Congress leaders and workers gathered atSadaquat Ashram, state headquarter of the party, that a united opposition will contest elections and will defeat the BJP.

Leader Of 15 Opposition Parties, including Congress, TMC, SP, NCP, JD-U, RJD, AAP, CPI, CPM, CPI(ML), NC, PDO, Shiv Sena, and JMM are participating in the meeting.

Hundreds Of colourful posters, banners, and hoardings of Opposition leaders have come up in Patna from the airport to Gandhi Maidan, reflecting the upbeat mood in the Opposition camp.

The opposition meeting is a result of the active role played by  Kumar, who has been tirelessly engaging with national and regional party leaders to strengthen Opposition unity for the past few months. Kumar has repeatedly said that he is uninterested in any post and categorically denied that he was in the race for the PM post.

Leaders of the BJP, which is the Opposition party in Bihar, and its allies have launched a direct attack against the meeting. They claimed that the meeting would be unsuccessful in its objective of uniting the opposition to defeat Modi.