Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Monday said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP were making all efforts to breathe life into NDA alliance as they were stressed out over the success of the Patna opposition parties meet held in June.
He said that the PM has suddenly remembered NDA. Till now, the BJP would not have even mentioned 'NDA' and it was as good as a ghost, Ramesh said.
“But now they are making efforts to revive it. This is the fallout of our Patna meeting,” said Ramesh. He was addressing a press meet along with AICC general secretary K.C.Venugopal and KPCC chief D.K. Shivakumar in Bengaluru on Monday, hours before the two-day opposition parties’ meeting to chalk out the joint strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls commences in the city.
The meeting will start on Monday evening at Taj West End hotel followed by dinner hosted by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The deliberations will be held between 11 am and 4.30 pm on Tuesday.
“The opposition unity is growing stronger,” claimed Ramesh stating that the Patna meet had 23 political parties on board, while the Bengaluru meet would see representatives from 26 political parties and the number would increase further.
Venugopal stated that the opposition parties were united by a common purpose - to protect democracy in this country and to ensure constitutional rights that were under attack by the present BJP government.
“After tomorrow’s meeting the leaders of all 26 parties will share the strategies evolved to tackle the BJP both inside and outside the Parliament. This will be a gamechanger in Indian politics,” said Venugopal adding that the Modi government wanted to silence the opposition voice by misusing the central agencies like ED, CBI.
“They are suppressing the voice of the opposition. Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Parliament is a big example before us. The incidents happening in Maharashtra are proof. They want to destabilise the democratically elected governments by misusing these agencies. You know Manipur is burning for the last 75 days. There has been no effort resolve it and shocking is the PM’s silence over the issue. The country is waiting for the PM’s response. People are in great distress due to unemployment and price rise but there is no concrete measure to address this. We are not here for power but to address these issues concerning the biggest democracy of the world,” said Venugopal.
Answering questions on the possibility of forming an alliance, seat sharing and naming the united front, ahead of the LS polls, Venugopal said that all issues would be discussed during the meet.
“It is not a single party meeting but coming together of many parties to shape the politics of this country and for the future of the people suffering under the BJP rule. All the issues will be sorted in a couple of meetings. The Congress party is not going to decide anything alone as all the parties will sit together and take a call on all issues. As non-UPA partners are also going to be part of this meeting, we will decide on a name after arriving at a consensus with each party.
On the question over the BJP demanding to know who from the opposition front would take on Modi in 2024, Venugopal shot back saying, “We have enough leaders who have proven their mettle in various capacities.”
An annoyed Venugopal asked the journalist not worry about the opposition’s leadership and instead worry about the country’s current situation.
“What is happening in this country. Every day democracy is in danger. Why are you not asking the Prime Minister about Manipur or the price rise?,” said Venugopal.
“The BJP raises the same question over leadership to divert the attention away from its failures. What kind of leadership is that which is silent over the Manipur situation or the one gave a clean chit to China on June 19, 2020. The real challenge today is how to safeguard the Constitution and the democracy,” added Ramesh.
Clarifying on the role of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the United Opposition, Venugopal said that Sonia Gandhi had been attending every meeting of the opposition parties and also the agitations in the Parliament. “She has vast experience and her presence gives additional strength to the meeting. Rahul Gandhi is a mass leader in the Congress party and also among the opposition parties too. In Patna, everybody was praising his Bharat Jodo Yatra,” he said.
Regarding the ED raids on a Tamil Nadu minister’s house, Venugopal alleged that the BJP government indulged in political vendetta in the name of agency action.
On the BJP’s alleged bid to break the opposition parties through Operation Lotus, Ramesh said, “We don’t expect any better from the BJP. First, they were shaken by the success of the Bharat Jodo Yatra and now they are worried about the Opposition meet.”
When Ramesh told that the opposition parties would fight the ‘ED and CBI raj’, Venugopal added that the BJP had resorted to a similar tactic in Karnataka too and KPCC chief and deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar was made the victim. “They took 15 JDS and Congress MLAs in Karnataka and Yediyurappa became the chief minister. But what happened in the elections. Maharashtra will also go the Karnataka way. People will not go with these (BJP) people. In fact, within the BJP too there is lot of resentment against Operation Lotus,” said Venugopal.
Congress slams JDS
The Congress party slammed its former ally in Karnataka – the Janata Dal Secular for taking a neutral position over the united opposition issue.
“In Indian politics, there is no place for ‘Trishankus’. In today’s circumstance, one cannot choose to remain a ‘Trishanku’. The parties have to take a clear stand on whether they want to safeguard the constitution or join hands with a party that attacks the Constitution every day,” dared Ramesh.
“Those who have the courage to fight the BJP government will come with us. There is no need for any invitation at all,” said Venugopal, hinting that the ruling party was not keen on having the JDS on board as the regional party has been fiercely attacking the Congress party while playing soft on the BJP in the recent days.
