NEW DELHI/PATNA: Opposition leaders, due to meet in Patna on June 12 in their attempt to form a larger non-BJP front, may have to set another date due to the “unavailability” of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, sources said.
The reason for pushing the date of the meeting has not been disclosed by any leader. Rahul is currently on a 6-day visit to the US and is likely to return on June 15. Sonia Gandhi is, too, abroad for medical reasons and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is accompanying her.
Sources said the DMK too, wants the meeting postponed as it is clashing with a government event that Chief Minister MK Stalin has to attend. A senior JD-U leader said on Sunday that Stalin had requested Nitish to extend the date of the meeting due to his busy schedule on June 12. He said the meeting may be convened in the third week of this month.
Sources said Opposition leaders will jointly decide the next date of the meeting, which could be June 23, so that Rahul could also attend it. Meanwhile, other members of the non-BJP grouping will also be approached, said a source.
A few days back, JD-U leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told a meeting of the party office-bearers that he would chair the meeting of opposition leaders on June 12. Nitish’s party is confident that he would be projected as the prime ministerial candidate of the opposition for the 2024 parliamentary polls.
Nitish has met Rahul and Mallikarjun Kharge of the Congress, Delhi CM and AAP’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal, West Bengal CM and TMC leader Mamata Banerjee and NCP boss Sharad Pawar.
Earlier on Sunday, Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav said things were moving on the right track on Opposition unity.