At Patna meet, leaders to crack the code of Opposition unity at state level

The Opposition parties will attempt to set a roadmap for deliberations for states to find convergence at the local level in unitedly taking on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election during their first meeting in Patna on June 23.

The Patna meeting, hosted by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the first in the series of many, is also likely to come out with a ‘joint statement of intent’ of the participating parties and the drafting of such a communique is being discussed among the potential players.

Leaders are exploring the possibility of holding the next meeting to be hosted by the Congress in Delhi rather than Shimla, as the leaders do not want to give an impression that it is avoiding the national capital and giving credence to rumours about some parties' antipathy to the Grand Old Party.

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A final decision on the date and venue of the next meeting will be taken at the Patna meeting, as some parties like Trinamool Congress still find it difficult to be a guest of the Congress.

Sources said the main aim of the “preliminary” meeting in Patna is to project a show of solidarity and purpose, which would be followed by meetings at national and state levels.

To ensure that leaders do not speak in cross purposes, sources said, there is a demand for circulating a draft statement of intent and getting the concurrence of all parties before the meeting.

The statement, sources said, could explain why they were meeting. It will include points on the rationale behind their fight against the BJP, the need to save the Constitution, fighting communal polarisation and issues on which they could take on the BJP like price rise, unemployment, misuse of central agencies and federalism among others.

The leaders are also likely to deliberate on how to take forward the Opposition unity at national level to the state level, to maximise the pooling of anti-BJP votes. “At the end, whatever unity, we have to make it work at the state level. A roadmap has to be prepared,” a senior leader told DH.

While a section has mooted forming smaller committees, some leaders have expressed their reservations about such a move as it would lead to competitive claims for seats in such panels and it would be counterproductive.