- Congress on Day 2 of the Opposition meeting asserted that their sole motto is to protect democracy and that they are not eying the Prime Minister post.
- The top leaders of 26 Opposition parties participated in the second day of their crucial deliberations today to chalk out a joint programme aimed at defeating the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
- 26 parties passed a resolution and our alliance will be called ‘INDIA’, earlier it was UPA, said Kharge
- A committee of 11 members will hold another meeting in Mumbai to decide further roadmap, said Kharge.
- “The BJP did not get 303 seats by itself. It used the votes of its allies and came to power and then discarded them., said Kharge.
Congress on Day 2 of the Opposition meeting asserted that their sole motto is to protect democracy and that they are not eying the Prime Minister post. Top leaders of 26 opposition parties are brainstorming in Bengaluru on July 17-18. They are likely to start the work on a common minimum At the joint Opposition meeting in Bengaluru, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said, “I had already said in Chennai, on MK Stalin’s birthday, that Congress is not interested in power or the post of Prime Minister. Our intention in this meeting is not to gain power for ourselves. It is to protect our Constitution, Democracy, Secularism and Social Justice.”
Admitting to differences among opposition parties at the state level, the Congress chief asserted that these are not ‘ideological.’ “These differences are not so big that we cannot put them behind us for the sake of the common man and middle class which is suffering due to inflation, for the sake of our youth who are suffering from unemployment, for the sake of the poor, Dalits, Adivasis and the minorities whose rights are being crushed silently behind the scenes,” the Congress chief said.
“The BJP did not get 303 seats by itself. It used the votes of its allies and came to power and then discarded them. Today, the BJP president and its leaders are running from state to state to patch up with their old allies,” he added.
The top leaders of 26 Opposition parties participated in the second day of their crucial deliberations today to chalk out a joint programme aimed at defeating the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The meeting began after leaders paid homage to former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who died today at the age of 79. NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar, who skipped the meeting the first day, is likely to participate today. During the meeting, they are also likely to announce two sub-committees – one for finalizing the common minimum programme along with communication points and the other for chalking out a joint opposition programme of events, rallies and conventions. On the first day of meeting on July 17, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, chief ministers M K Stalin, Nitish Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal and Hemant Soren and RJD chief Lalu Prasad were among those who attended the dinner meeting where the agenda for the formal talks starting Tuesday morning was finalized.
26 parties passed a resolution and our alliance will be called ‘INDIA’, earlier it was UPA, said Kharge.
(With inputs from agencies)
