Nitish, Pawar lead call by oppn leaders for forming united anti-BJP front with Cong
Fatehabad (Hr): In a major step towards forging a united anti-BJP front, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and other prominent opposition leaders on Sunday called for a new alliance that includes the Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, stressing that a bipolar contest will ensure the BJP’s defeat.
“If all non-BJP parties unite, which must include our friends from Congress, then we can get rid of those working to destroy the country,” Kumar said at a mega rally organised by the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) here to mark former deputy prime minister Devi Lal’s birth anniversary.
The same sentiment was echoed by other leaders including Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav.
The leaders attacked the BJP, accusing it of trying to create “Hindu-Muslim disturbances” to benefit politically and making false claims and promises.
Hitting back, BJP president J P Nadda, who was in Kerala, said the only thing common to these opposition parties is “dynastic politics and corruption”.
At the rally here, Nitish Kumar, whose JD(U) snapped ties with the BJP last month, said there is “no question of a Third Front” and there should be one “main front” to trounce the BJP in the 2024 elections.
Even INLD president OP Chautala said that “they will talk to all parties including Congress to form a united front of opposition parties.”
Chautala and Shiromani Akali Dal’s Sukhbir Singh Badal, both with a long history of fighting the Congress, were on the stage with other senior leaders.
Though not in as many words, Badal underlined the need for opposition parties to come together.
He asserted that the “real NDA is here on this stage not somewhere else. The founding members SAD, Shiv Sena, and JD(U) are present here. We removed the BJP from the NDA.”
Pawar spoke at length on the plight of farmers who protested against the three farm laws and said the government has still not fulfilled their demand for minimum support price (MSP).
He also talked about the government not taking back cases filed against the protesting farmers.
“The real solution to problems of farmers and unemployment can only be by bringing a change and everyone must strive for a change of the government at the Centre in 2024. All opposition parties should come together,” he said. (PTI)
