Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale on Wednesday said that Prime Minister Modi is alone enough to take on all opposition parties that want to forge unity to take on BJP in the 2024 elections.

Speaking to ANI in Mumbai, Atawale said National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is really strong under the leadership of PM Modi. “If opposition parties want to come together, they can. PM Modi alone is enough to take on all of them. NDA is really strong under the leadership of PM Modi,” Union Minister said on Bihar CM Nitish Kumar meeting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

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The union minister’s response came after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav met Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi as also Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday.

The opposition parties are striving as part of their efforts to unite as many opposition parties as possible to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Sources said there will be a meeting of opposition parties by the end of April after consultations with them and Nitish Kumar and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge will talk to the opposition parties.

After the meeting, Kharge talked of fighting the polls unitedly. Rahul Gandhi also talked of “standing together and fighting together”. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said it is essential for all opposition parties to unite and oust the BJP-led government in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The meetings are being seen as an attempt by Congress and other opposition parties to take forward their “unity” displayed during the budget session of Parliament session that concluded on April 6. The session saw continuous disruptions over the opposition’s demand for a JPC probe into the Hindenburg-Adani row.

The opposition parties also slammed the government over the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha following his conviction by a Surat court in a criminal defamation case.

BJP leader and Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday took a swipe at the opposition parties over their efforts to forge unity to take on the BJP in the 2024 elections and said these parties were coming together for ‘Maha thug Bandhan’.

“When political parties that are indulging in corruption come together they form ‘Maha Thug Bandhan’. Corruption cannot be hidden. People know that they have neither policies, leadership, nor intention. People do not vote when there is a wrong intention. They don’t have any policy or leadership. People will not vote for them. During 2014, 2019 and UP polls also formed this ‘Maha Thug Bandhan’ but nothing happened as people know about them,” Thakur told ANI.

Rahul Gandhi described the meeting with Janata Dal-United and RJD leaders as a “historic step” towards opposition unity and an ideological fight.

Rahul Gandhi, who posted a picture of Kharge and him with JD-U and RJD leaders, said they are “standing together, will fight together – for India.”

“In this battle of ideology, a historic step has been taken today towards opposition unity. (We are) standing together will fight together – for India!” Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet on Wednesday.

Janata Dal-United president Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh was also present at the meeting held at Kharge’s residence.

Nitish Kumar said they will try to unite as many parties as possible.

“We will try to unite as many political parties as we can and move forward together. We will sit and deliberate on the way forward. We have had discussions. Those who agree with us…we will then take decisions about the future. A lot of people will come together,” he said on Wednesday.