"We also say Bharat Mata...don't call us Opposition": Mamata Banerjee after Patna meeting
Jun 23, 2023
Patna (Bihar) [India], June 23 : West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Friday asserted that all the Opposition parties will unitedly fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
Addressing media after the Opposition leaders' meeting here Mamata Banerjee said, "We are united, we will fight unitedly... history started from here (Patna), BJP wants that history changed. And we want history should be saved from Bihar. Our objective is to speak against this fascist government..."
"Don't call us opposition. We are also patriotic.... we also say Bharat Mata...," Mamata said.
Mamata further said that "....if Manipur burns, we feel pain....BJP's atrocity, making Rajbhavan as an alternative government. Anyone who dissents, faces ED, CBI..."
The West Bengal chief minister further alleged that the BJP uses central agencies like ED and CBI to suppress political parties that speak against the PM Narendra Modi-led government.
Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar said on that the opposition parties had a "good meeting" in Patna and it has been decided to fight the elections together.
Kumar, who had convened the mega meeting of opposition parties, said that another meeting of opposition parties will be held soon.
"It was a good meeting where it has been decided to fight the elections together. Another meeting will be held soon," Kumar said at a joint press conference in the presence of other opposition leaders including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi. He also slammed the performance of the BJP-led central government.
The meeting had been called to forge opposition unity to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The Opposition parties picked Patna as a venue for its meeting as it represents the 1974 call of total revolution by Jayaprakash Narayan that toppled Indira Gandhi's majority government.
The next meeting of the Opposition parties would be held in Shimla next month, announced Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
"We will meet again in July in Shimla to prepare an agenda on how to move ahead together while working in our respective states to fight BJP in 2024," said Kharge after the meeting in Patna.
