NEW DELHI: Prominent Opposition leaders on Sunday gave a fresh unity call ahead of the 2024 general election at a massive rally organised by the INLD in Haryana’s Fatehabad to commemorate the birth anniversary of the party’s founder Devi Lal.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar urged the Opposition to build a ‘main front’ of all parties, including the Congress, to defeat the ruling BJP while ruling out a third front.
He also stayed in denial on entering the prime ministerial race. “I am not a PM candidate. There is also no question of a third front. There should be one front, including the Congress and the Left,” he said, adding that they had even requested the Congress to participate in the rally.
Not just the Congress, major parties like Telangana Rashtra Samithi and Trinamool Congress gave the rally a miss. However, NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, CPI (M)’s Sitaram Yechury and SAD boss Sukhbir Singh Badal participated. Pawar, Yechury and Badal echoed Nitish saying the need of the hour is for everyone to come together to dislodge the BJP.
Trinamool, TRS, DMK no-show
“Since West Bengal and Tamil Nadu CMs Mamata Banerjee and M K Stalin skipped it, Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao felt it wasn’t important enough to participate,” a party source said