Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti to attend Opposition meet on June 23 in Patna 

Janata Dal (United) national president Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh on Sunday announced that former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti will also attend the scheduled Opposition meet on June 23 in Patna.

Janata Dal (United) national president Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh on Sunday announced that former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti will also attend the scheduled Opposition meet on June 23 in Patna.

He made the announcement during a party programme when a former doctor of Patna Medical College and Hospital Vimal Karak joined the JD (U) in his presence.

“Opposition leaders of 18 political parties are coming to attend the meeting and we have also got the consent of Farooq Abdullah of National Conference and Mehbooba Mufti of PDP. They are also coming to attend the Opposition meet,” Mr. Singh said.

Earlier, the Opposition leaders who had given their consent to attend the meeting include All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Former Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, CPI general secretary D. Raja, CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPI (ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya.

Mr. Singh also expressed strong reservation over party leaders and workers projecting Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as a prime ministerial candidate. This happened when many workers started shouting slogans Desh Ka PM Kaisa Ho, Nitish Kumar Jaisa Ho (How would be the country’s PM, it would be like Nitish Kumar).

The JD (U) president opined that such slogans could become a threat to the Opposition unity and urged the leaders not to chant them.

“Don’t raise such slogans. Nitish Kumar is not the prime ministerial candidate. He is just making an honest effort to unite the Opposition so that we can fight together to root out the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Such slogans can become obstacles in the Opposition unity, so don’t project him as the prime ministerial candidate. As far as the PM’s name is concerned in the Opposition, let the election get over and after that everyone will sit together and then the name would be decided,” Mr. Singh stressed.