Top opposition leaders gathered at Congress member of parliament (MP) Kapil Sibal’s home on Monday evening to discuss how they could work together to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the next general elections in 2024.
A day after Sibal’s 73rd birthday, the leaders were summoned for a dinner.
Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Pinaki Misra of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Derek O’Brien and Kalyan Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Omar Abdullah of the National Conference (NC), Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena, Sitaram Yechury and
At least 20 members of the so-called “G-23” group of leaders, who wrote a letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi last year requesting a reorganisation of the party, were in attendance at the dinner.
According to one person who attended the dinner, all of the leaders focused on areas where the parties could collaborate ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, as well as the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, which are scheduled for early 2022, as the BJP’s first challenge.
“We should aim for a one-on-one contest in 2024,’’ Pawar told the gathering, according to this person.
The NCP chief backed an election strategy of fielding a united Opposition candidate to take on the BJP in a particular constituency, and cited the coalition government in Maharashtra as proof that Opposition forces could coalesce. “Who would have thought that the NCP, Congress and Sena can work together?’’ he said. Raut agreed, saying Maharashtra had been able to show how new experiements can work in alliances.
Following the example of West Bengal, where the TMC defeated the BJP after an acrimonious, high-voltage campaign, O’Brien suggested. According to a second person present at the event, he said, “Today is the 100th day since Mamata Banerjee defeated the BJP.”
Sibal’s home at 8, Teen Murti Lane was where former Communist Party of India(Marxist) leader Harkishan Singh Surjeet lived, according to Yechury.
