Owaisi questions Opposition meet in Patna: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday (June 23) came down heavily on the opposition meeting which took place in Patna and asked to see the ‘track record’ of the leaders assembled in Bihar today including those from Congress.

Owaisi asked if it wasn’t true that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had come to power at the Cente twice ‘because of Congress’.

The AIMIM chief stressed that he wants to keep Prime Minister Narendra Modi out of power in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and pointed out that efforts will be made in this regard, however, he went on to question the meeting that took place in Patna which is a bid by the opposition parties to stitch various parties together and attempt to build a platform to form an alliance against the BJP.

Owaisi questions Nitish Kumar

The AIMIM chief slammed Nitish Kumar, who took the onus upon himself to bring together the opposition parties and at whose residence the meeting was held today, and questioned his repeated jumping of ships from the BJP to the ‘mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance) and again to BJP and back to the grand alliance which took place last year.

“We don’t want Mr Narendra Modi to again become the Prime Minister of the country in 2024. And for that, we will be using whatever efforts are there. But this particular meeting which is being held today in Patna, What is the track record of all these political leaders who have assembled there? Isn’t it right that because of Congress, BJP came back into power twice? Isn’t it right that Nitish Kumas the railway minister when Godhra happened? And he continued to be with BJP when the Gujarat genocide happened. He became chief minister because of his alliance with BJP. He left BJP, formed mahagathbandhan, became CM, again left them, joined the BJP, now again he has left them,” Owaisi said at a press conference.

Owaisi slams Uddhav, Kejriwal

He asked if Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction) has become a ‘secular party’.

“Has Shiv Sena become a secular party? Uddhav Thackeray as a chief minister said in the Maharashtra Assembly ‘Yes we are proud of demolishing Babari Masjid’. Delhi CM supported BJP when Article 370 was removed from Jammu and Kashmir unconstitutionally,” the AIMIM chief said.

When asked about the opposition face who could take on PM Modi in the next year’s general elections, Owaisi said that there is a need to contest against the BJP on all seats rather than declare the prime ministerial face.

“There should be a fight against Narendra Modi on 540 Lok Sabha seats. If you bring forth the faces, the BJP would benefit,” he said.

Opposition meeting in Patna

The top leaders of over 15 political parties participated in a meeting convened by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at this residence in Patna.

Top opposition leaders participated in the meeting aimed at bringing together all like-minded parties on one platform.

Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamata Banerjee, Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Arvind Kejriwal, MK Stalin, Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, Hemant Soren were among the participating leaders in the meeting.

ALSO READ | ‘It will not benefit the country’: BRS leader KTR Rao on skipping Opposition meeting in Patna

ALSO READ | ‘Photo session underway’: Amit Shah takes a jibe at opposition leaders’ meeting in Patna