Much-awaited Oppn meet off to a good start

Seat-sharing talks to be held at Shimla meet, said Nitish

- MANOJ C G & SANTOSH SINGH

PARTIES RESOLVE TO CONTEST TOGETHER

IT WAS AS good as they could have hoped for. The top leaders of as many as 15 Opposition parties held their much-anticipated Patna meeting on Friday and, after deliberations lasting over four hours, announced that they would fight the 2024 Lok Sabha elections together.

As parties had indicated earlier, they did not get into the nitty-gritty of seat-sharing or electoral adjustments at this first meeting, leaving the tricky issues for later talks. They also announced the venue for the next meeting: Shimla in Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh, on either July 10 or 12.

The one sour note in the cordial exchange was a tiff between Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal over the latter's insistence that the Congress clarify its stand on a Delhi ordinance passed by the Centre. Sources said Kharge stuck to his guns, and had the support of most parties on the matter.

All the 32 leaders from the 15 parties present backed unity to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Sources said JD(U) supremo and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish, who put together the meeting, told the leaders that many more smaller parties at least 10 in his estimation Opposition to the will join the camp closer 2024 elections.

Sources said Rahul told the parties that he had not brought any "past likes and dislikes" to the table, and he believed they needed to be together, "whatever it took".

He was apparently referring to NCP chief Sharad Pawar's mention of remarks by Rahul on Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar, which had soured ties between the Congress and ally Shiv Sena (UBT).