The countdown has begun for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections but the Opposition is still figuring out a way to put up a united fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). As the efforts for a united front have not materialised yet, former union minister and Congress leader Salman Khurshid said that the Opposition unity should happen soon.
Khurshid’s remarks came after Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (U) leader Nitish Kumar said the Congress must not rest on its laurels and make use of the momentum gained during Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ in forging a coalition of parties opposed to the BJP.
“What you want is what the Congress also wants. Sometimes a problem occurs in love too. Who will say I love you first? Agree that opposition unity should happen soon,” India Today quoted Khurshid as saying.
“I came to represent on behalf of Congress. Earlier there was talk of the Gujarat model but now there should be the talk of the Bihar model and I will speak about it at every place in the country. Rahul Gandhi covered 3,005 km with a message of faith and love,” he said.
Khurshid and Kumar attended a convention organised by the CPI(ML) Liberation in Patna today.
“The Congress should not delay uniting the opposition. We are waiting. We went to Delhi and met Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. This is an appeal to the Congress leadership through you,” the Bihar CM told Khurshid.
#WATCH | I want you people (Congress) to take a quick decision. If they take my suggestion & fight together, they (BJP) will go below 100 seats, but if they don’t take my suggestion, you know what will happen: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar at 11th General Convention of CPI-M, Patna pic.twitter.com/StbAEOjgWE— ANI (@ANI) February 18, 2023
Kumar said the coalition of opposition must take shape “at the earliest” so that the BJP, which has a brute majority in the Lok Sabha with more than 300 seats, could be bundled out for “less than 100” in the general elections next year.
He insisted that his exit from the NDA last year had brought the curtains down on the BJP’s attempts to expand its footprints in the state “but we need to achieve something similar on the national level”.
Maintaining that he had no ambitions for himself, Kumar, the longest serving CM, now 71 years old, said “if my advice is heeded, it will benefit the country” as well as parties facing the heat of the BJP’s near hegemonic status.
The chief minister, who refrained from mentioning the BJP and its leaders by name in his trademark style, said the Lok Sabha polls were an opportunity for ‘in logon se mukti’ (liberation from these people).
He also expressed concern over rising communal tensions in the country, where “Hindus and Muslims had lived in peace despite the blood-soaked legacy of Partition”.
(with PTI inputs)
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