NEW DELHI: The first joint meeting of Opposition parties in Patna on June 23 will deliberate various options for firming up coalitions, maximising anti-BJP votes at state levels and fielding common candidates against the saffron party in 2024 Lok Sabha polls, among others.
The tried-and-tested coalition models such as the 2004 UPA-1 and tactical state-level alliances will also be discussed, according to leaders familiar with the developments. The meeting will be attended by Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, her Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and NCP president Sharad Pawar, CPI leader D Raja, CPM’s Sitaram Yechuri and Dipankar Bhattacharya of CPI(M-L).
A leader, engaged in backchannel talks with other parties, told this newspaper, “The idea is to augment anti-BJP votes at the state level and reach a consensus to jointly fight the BJP in 2024.” The proposal of fielding a common candidate in as many as 450 seats against the BJP nominee may also be discussed in the meeting, said another leader.
Some leaders, including P Chidambaram, Nitish Kumar and Sanjay Raut, have backed the idea of a common candidate to avoid an Opposition vote split. Of the 543 Lok Sabha seats, Opposition parties are in a direct fight with each other in states like Kerala, Punjab, Delhi, West Bengal and Telangana, which account for 98 seats in total.
"In states like Kerala, Punjab, Delhi, Bengal and Telangana, Congress will be in a direct fight with CPM, AAP, TMC and BRS. However, there can be post-poll alliances,” said the leader. The formula is that other regional parties will support Congress in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh where the party is in direct fight with BJP. In Uttar Pradesh, the Congress may support SP.