Opposition parties' June 12 meet in Patna postponed

The first meeting of the joint Opposition in Patna on June 12 to give a proper structure to the unity exercise ahead of Lok Sabha elections has been postponed by at least 11 days in a bid to ensure participation of top leaders.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was to host the meeting in the Bihar capital and had confirmation from at least 16 parties but absence of top leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and MK Stalin among others for various reasons prompted the rescheduling of the programme.

Sources said the meeting is now likely to take place in Patna on June 23. Earlier, there was a thought in the Opposition ranks to hold a second meeting in Shimla on June 23 after the “preparatory” deliberations in Patna where a broader framework could have been worked out.

Last week, JD(U) president Rajiv Ranjan ‘Lalan’ Singh had met Congress president Kharge to finetune the details of the meeting and preparations had started in Patna for the meeting.

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However, Congress is learnt to have requested that the meeting be held after the return of its top leader Rahul Gandhi, who is on a US tour. DMK also made a similar request.

As Stalin could not fly to Patna on June 12, sources said DMK was planning to depute Kanimozhi, as senior TR Baalu could also not make it. CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury also indicated that he would have to change prior commitments to attend the meeting, sources said.

It was felt that it would be bad optics if top leaders were absent in the first meeting. This was conveyed to Nitish, who found reason in it that absence of top leaders at a meeting called by him would diminish his stature in the Opposition ranks.

Earlier, there were reservations among a section of Opposition leaders over Nitish taking the lead and holding the meeting in Patna, which could be interpreted as the JD(U) leader being seen as the face of the grouping.

Some leaders are not comfortable with Nitish playing the coordinator’s role. Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee had suggested to Nitish to hold the opposition meet in Patna when he met her in Kolkata last month.