Shahnawaz Hussain said nothing will come of the opposition meeting in Patna.
New Delhi:
BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain had strong words for the opposition amid a mega meeting in Patna today, an event organised to formulate a strategy against the Narendra Modi-led BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“Some leaders have assembled in Patna. Nothing will come of it. All of them have unrealistic dreams and fight against each other,” Mr Hussain told NDTV. His comments came as the opposition parties, invited by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, tried to present a show of strength against the NDA government.
“The Congress had asked Nitish ji to organise the meeting because no one would have come otherwise,” Mr Hussain said. Top leaders of about 20 Opposition parties from across the country, including Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, were among those in attendance.
Mr Hussain criticized the opposition for lacking a clear leader or ideology, stating, “The people who have come together don’t have a leader, leadership, or ideology. They only have an anti-Modi agenda.”
Mr Hussain slammed the fractured opposition for their stance against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying, “Are they not proud of the respect Modi ji is getting the world over? People will vote for Modi ji once again next year.”
While the opposition parties are aiming to form alliances to challenge the BJP, some parties such as the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), the Biju Janata Dal of Odisha, the Bahujan Samaj Party, and the YSR Congress Party decided to give the meeting a miss.
The opposition’s main agenda included discussions on effective alliances, potential seat-sharing formulas, and the role of regional parties in the 2024 general elections. They also sought to forge unity based on a common minimum programme to provide an alternative to the Narendra Modi-led Union government.
