Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Saturday took on the opposition leaders for staging a united front against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government by saying that people will make them sit at home in 2024.
“The public will make them sit at home in 2024 and vote to bring the Modi government to power again. They know their faces well,” Thakur said. In a sharp attack at the Congress, he asked whether the party will be able to question the other regional parties on their wrongdoings. “Can Rahul Gandhi question Mamata Banerjee on the attack on democracy in Bengal, can he question Stalin in Tamil Nadu, the Communists in Kerala on the death of BJP workers in the state, Nitish Kumar on the breakdown of the multi-crore bridge in the state or corruption on ambulances. It cannot. This is because Congress itself is guilty of corruption,” Thakur said.
In a jibe aimed a the opposition, Thakur said, “The stage (opposition meeting) has been set up, and the troupe (opposition leaders) has assembled. All the corrupt leaders are participating in it (opposition meeting).”
Earlier in the day, pointing at the tiff between the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress, he said, “They talk about unity but cannot be seen united beyond a joint press conference.” Thakur also highlighted the bitter rivalry between the Congress and the regional parties in their respective states.
“If Mamata didi asks Congress to stay out of West Bengal, if Lalu and Nitish ask them to stay out of Bihar, Akhilesh asks them to leave Uttar Pradesh, Stalin says leave Tamil Nadu, is the Congress only there to lay seats in the Gathbandhan?” the Union Minister had questioned.
Speaking about a poster with a massive picture of Nitish Kumar that was later removed, Thakur said, “Yesterday a poster surfaced in which there was a huge photo of Nitish ji. Have you selected Nitish ji as your leader? In some time the tweet gets deleted. This shows that this is a coalition in which there is neither a leader nor an ideology.”
More than 15 opposition parties attended the meeting held at Nitish Kumar’s official residence in Patna.
The mega event was attended by Chief Ministers of several opposition-ruled states including Mamata Banerjee and some other prominent leaders from parties opposed to the BJP.
Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar, who had convened the meeting of opposition leaders, said at the joint press conference that opposition parties decided to fight the elections together.
The Opposition parties picked Patna as a venue for its meeting as it represents the 1974 call of total revolution by Jayaprakash Narayan that toppled Indira Gandhi’s majority government.
The next meeting of the Opposition parties would be held in Shimla next month, announced Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.