NEW DELHI: Both the ruling and Opposition alliances on Monday geared up for a competitive show of strength the following day ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. While the NDA claimed it had 38 parties on its side and its meeting will happen in New Delhi, leaders of most of the 26 Opposition parties are already in Bengaluru for their strategy session.
The BJP did not provide an official list of the 38 parties, but Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction, Ajit Pawar’s faction of the NCP, O P Rajbhar’s Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party in UP, Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal, Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Pawan Kalyan’s Jan Sena in Andhra Pradesh are among those expected for the meeting. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda would participate.
Nadda made the announcement hours after Chirag Paswan met both him and Amit Shah and decided to return to the NDA. “The country has decided that in 2024, a new Union government will be formed under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi again. The NDA unity is based on the larger interests of the country. It is unbreakable,” Nadda claimed.
Criticising the Opposition unity as opportunistic, he alleged that they have come together to wriggle out of a whopping `20 lakh crore in corruption charges during the UPA rule. “The Opposition neither has a neta (leader) nor niti (policy) or niyat (intention). They do not even have the power to take decisions. This is bunch of corrupt netas,” Nadda charged.
‘Law will take its course’
“Law will take its own course on corruption,” Nadda said to a question on some NCP leaders facing graft charges joining the Maharashtra government
Leadership question
Asked who would be the leader of the alliance, Venugopal said, “We have enough leaders who have proved their mettle. You don’t worry about the leader”