Murshidabad (West Bengal): A day after Trinamool Congress announced that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will attend the opposition meeting at Patna in June, West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury made it clear that the party will also attend the meeting obviously signifying that despite being in the opposition in the state, Congress, along with Trinamool Congress, is likely to fight BJP at the national level.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, Chowdhury said, “There will be a chance to defeat PM Modi" once the opposition unites. "That is what we have been telling other opposition parties from the very first day. But, some in the opposition agree with this and some disagree. We see some regional parties that have problems in uniting with the Congress".
Though Chowdhury clarified that their fight against the TMC in West Bengal would continue irrespective of the outcome of the opposition meeting, he added that from Congress, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge gave the responsibility to Nitish Kumar, to call those he wished to call. "If the Opposition is united, then Modi will not return to power. So, if Nitish invites Congress, Congress will go. If he invites other regional parties, they will go," said the Bengal Congress chief. The date was decided days after Nitish Kumar met Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi in Delhi.
The two parties, which have been opposing each other in the state, may come on a single political platform for a larger national interests and that was evident when TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay expressed optimism about the meeting and emphasised the importance of united opposition against the BJP. He stated, "The opposition parties will put up a united fight against the BJP. Mamata Banerjee has made her points clear. If the Congress follows the same path, then it will further strengthen opposition unity."
It is worth noting that Mamata Banerjee specifically asked Nitish Kumar to take the lead in organising the event, as some parties, including the TMC, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), prefer not to view the Congress as the leader of any future anti-BJP coalition. The initiative to organise this event was taken by Mamata Banerjee, who proposed the idea during her recent meeting with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
She drew inspiration from the efforts of socialist legend Jayaprakash Narayan, who formed the Janata Party in 1977 by uniting various parties under one roof. The choice of Patna as the venue carries symbolic significance, as it was the city where Jayaprakash Narayan spearheaded the movement against the government during the Emergency era.
Nitish Kumar has been actively reaching out to opposition parties since his meeting with Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and senior party leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi last month. The Bihar Chief Minister aims at bringing them together on a single platform before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. His efforts have resulted in a positive response, as the Congress, AAP and TMC have shown willingness to engage in discussions and foster opposition unity.
