Patna (Bihar) : On the initiative of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a joint meeting is proposed on June 12 here in Patna to bring all the country's opposition parties on one platform but it is unlikely to take place along expected lines. Sources in the Grand Alliance say this meeting of opposition parties may be postponed since there is no confirmation from some big leaders, including those from Congress. The meeting may be postponed to June 23, the sources said.
Amid this, Janata Dal-United (JDU) leaders are keeping silent about the meeting scheduled to begin at 2 pm on June 12 at Gyan Bhawan in Patna. CM Nitish Kumar had sent invitations to most of the opposition parties. He had talked to everyone himself. At one time, the JDU leaders claimed that most of the opposition parties will attend the meeting and a message will be given to the whole country against the BJP.
But it is now said that due to some big leaders from the opposition being unlikely to attend the meeting, a decision has been taken to postpone it, sources said. Along with the Congress leaders, there was also doubt about Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal. Because Kejriwal is seeking support from the big leaders of the opposition parties against the ordinance brought by the central government.
They are also seeking support from Congress, but it has taken no decision to extend support. In such a situation, there was no possibility of Kejriwal coming to the meeting of opposition parties. Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik and Chief Minister of Telangana K Chandrasekhar Rao were not called to the meeting. In such a situation, when the big leaders of most of the opposition parties would not attend, then the purpose of the meeting would not be served.
Considering all this, Nitish Kumar has decided to postpone it for the time being, sources said and added that soon the next date will be fixed after talking to the Congress leaders. As such, Nitish Kumar has suffered a major setback as the Patna meeting with the opposition parties on June 12 is not going to happen as expected.
There were doubts about what would be the purpose of the meeting if Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and former MP Rahul Gandhi would not attend it. At the same time, Tamil Nadu CM Stalin also expressed his inability to attend the meeting on June 12 and made a request to extend the date.
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar was engaged in this campaign for the last several months. He had met several Chief Ministers of many States and the big leaders of the opposition parties. Nitish had met Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, CPM leader Sitaram Yechury and CPI leader D Raja. Along with this, invitations were being sent to invite everyone to the meeting.
