In the run-up to the 2024 general elections, the Congress is trying to get all anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parties together and form an alliance at the national level.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi recently met Bihar’s Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar.

ALSO READ | Mission 2024: Sharad Pawar Meets Kharge, Rahul Gandhi; Cong Leader Says Process of Uniting Oppn Started

According to sources, Pawar has advised Gandhi to meet Shiv Sena UBT chief and former CM of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray at his residence in Mumbai. If this happens, the meet will be of political importance, as recently the Congress and Shiv Sena UBT differed on the Savarkar issue. Thackeray’s party not only criticised Gandhi, but also advised him to “learn from the sacrifices of Savarkar”.

Also, Gandhi will become the first member of his family to visit ‘Matoshree’.

AFTER PAWAR-THACKERAY MEET

According to Shiv Sena UBT leaders and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, the Opposition will come together against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), this is what every party wants. “The initiative of the Congress is to meet all opposition leaders and unite before 2024. Even Thackeray and other leaders have the same thought regarding Opposition unity. The Congress is a national party, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and their leader Rahul Gandhi have started this initiative and we welcome it.”

ALSO READ | The Maha Picture: Pawar Play to Limit Cong Field? What it Means for Oppn Unity in 2024 Match

“Pawar and Thackeray also met in Mumbai. The information we have is that Rahul Gandhi will be meeting Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee too. On Monday, at 5 pm, Congress senior leader KC Venugopal will meet Thackeray. I feel that after a meeting with Kharge, Gandhi could also meet Thackeray…When I met Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi, I invited them to come to Mumbai and Maharashtra,” said Raut.

ANTI-BJP PARTIES

After losing the membership of Lok Sabha, Gandhi has taken the initiative to form a firm alliance of Opposition parties which are against the BJP. Gandhi and the Congress have started their preparation for the 2024 general elections, with an aim to defeat the BJP.

According to sources, Gandhi will also meet Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. In these meetings with top leaders of anti-BJP regional parties, Gandhi will make an attempt to iron out the differences. “The Congress and its top leadership are working with an aim to remove the BJP. Earlier, we saw how they broke the Maha Vikas Aghadi by giving the threat of Central agencies, but it won’t happen. The way Gandhi is meeting other opposition leaders it shows that he wants to give a message that we all are together and united,” said a senior Congress leader and Mumbai Congress chief Bhai Jagtap.

ALSO READ | ‘Scared, Greedy…’: Cong Lashes out at Pawar Over ‘SC Panel for Adani Probe’; BJP Calls it ‘Appalling’

Another senior Congress leader, who is part of the decision-making team related to Maharashtra, told News18: “If this meeting takes place, the Congress will benefit from it. Right now, the Congress has to depend on the NCP to have a word with the Shiv Sena UBT. With the barriers of a mediator down, the bargaining power of the NCP will reduce.”

Like Gandhi, his mother Sonia had made similar efforts in 2004.

Will Gandhi succeed in uniting all anti-BJP parties and will the united opposition under the Congress’s leadership be able to defeat the BJP?

Read all the Latest Politics News here