On Friday Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav met Mamata Banerjee the Chief Minister of Bengal at the latter’s residence. This meeting comes at a time when both of these parties are maintaining a distance from the grand old party. The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister is in Kolkata to take part in his party’s national executive meeting, which will build strategies for the upcoming general elections.
In a massive hint towards a Congress-less opposition for the upcoming Lok Sabha Polls, the Samajwadi Party( SP) supremo Akhilesh Yadav has reached out to meet Trinamool Congress Chief (TMC) and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at her residence.
The meeting of Mamata and Akhilesh
The SP is a natural ally of the TMC, Mamata Banerjee even held a rally for SP at the time of the Assembly polls of Uttar Pradesh in 2021. “ We are with Didi. We will have to defeat the BJP. We will form an alliance with all like-minded parties who can help us defeat BJP,” the former UP CM said addressing the press after the meeting. Yadav further said his party is marinating equal distance from both the BJP and Congress.
TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay said that the Congress should not behave like it is the leader of the opposition, he clarified that his party would go solo and would not be thinking of forming a third front any time soon.
According to reports, Mamata Banerjee will be on a visit to Orissa soon and she will be meeting Biju Janta Dal President and Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to discuss strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. She will also visit Delhi next month to meet Chief Minister Aravind Kejriwal, it is to be noted that both AAP and TMC are not on the best of terms with the Congress.
Referring to instability in Parliament over the remarks of Rahul Gandhi in the UK recently, a TMC leader said the BJP sees Mr. Gandhi as “the face” of the opposition. “ Rahul Gandhi made comments on foreign soil and taking advantage BJP will not let Parliament run till he apologies. This means they don’t want Parliament to run using this issue.
The BJP wants Rahul to be the face of the opposition so that they can come back to power easily. There is no urgency to decide on a PM face now, the matter can be looked after the results” a TMC leader said.
Congress says opposition unity is not possible without it
The general secretary of Congress K.C. Venugopal said, that the party knows its role in bringing all opposition parties on a single platform before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to take on the BJP and throw it out of power.
“ The Congress has already taken the lead and has been in touch with various political parties. There is a clear-cut initiative taken by Congress to bring all the opposition parties on the same platform against the BJP”, Venugopal said speaking to the press.
Last month, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced that Congress should join the opposition-led alliance and if it happens BJP will not even cross the 100 mark. Mr. Kumar further said that if all opposition parties join hands in the coming Lok Sabha polls BJP’s defeat is certain.
He said although Bharat Jodo Yatra was a success for the Congress, they should not consider themselves as the big brother and should seat with small regional parties if they want to come back to power at the center.