CMP, seat sharing to be decided at Shimla meet: GA leaders after key Opp meeting
Hindustan TimesThe mega Opposition meet in Patna on Friday has resolved to ink a common national agenda or common minimum programme to work out a seat-sharing arrangement on a state-specific basis and also draw up an agitational programme on peoples’ issues at the next meeting in Shimla in July in their bid to forge a coalition to challenge the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 parliamentary elections, according to leaders from the grand alliance who attended the meeting. Leaders aware of the discussion at the meeting said the four-hour-long deliberations at the meeting hosted by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar at his official residence and attended by 15 opposition parties discussed the broad outline of the proposed anti-BJP front, the challenges before the opposition and how a seat-sharing arrangement could be done for the new coalition by taking into account that the political dynamics varied in each state. Meanwhile, in a statement released in the evening by AAP after the meeting concluded, it said, ‘’Except for the Indian National Congress, all other 11 parties, which have representation in the Rajya Sabha, have clearly expressed their stand against the black ordinance and announced that they would oppose it in the Rajya Sabha.” AAP leader Kejriwal wrote a letter seeking clarification from opposition leaders on their stand over the ordinance before Friday’s meeting, which had evoked a strong reaction from the Congress. GA leaders also said at the Shimla meeting, many new partners who opposed the BJP, including Rashtriya Lok Dal, All India United Democratic Front, and a few parties from Kerala, would also participate.