Ahead of the Friday’s meeting of opposition parties in Patna, Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal chief minister and TMC supremo, on Thursday said that opposition parties will fight like a family and take on the BJP “one to one”.
“I cannot say what will happen at tomorrow’s meeting. But I am certain we are all here to fight the BJP together, like a family, one to one,” she said.
On Thursday, Mamata met with RJD president Lalu Prasad and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi in Patna.
“I have great respect for Lalu-ji. The poor man was sent to jail and had to spend a lot of time in the hospital,” said Mamata .
The TMC supremo said she was happy to meet Prasad.
“He looks strong enough to take on the BJP,” said the West Bengal CM who drove straight to meet the RJD leaders upon setting foot in Patna.
She was accompanied by her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, TMC MP, and West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim.
The opposition leaders’ meeting, convened by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, has been called to forge unity among the opposition and chalk out a joint strategy to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Delhi CM and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, NCP president Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti are among those expected to attend the meeting.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav will attend the meet.
BSP supremo Mayawati has not been invited for the opposition meeting. She on Thursday termed the opposition meeting as more about shaking hands than joining hearts.
(With inputs from PTI)Bihar’s deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav will also be a part of Friday’s meeting.
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Updated: 22 Jun 2023, 06:59 PM IST