Poster war in Patna: AAP takes a dig at Nitish Kumar, BJP calls Oppn 'Thugs of India'

Bihar is witnessing a poster war ahead of the 17 opposition parties' grand meeting in Patna, which has been called to discuss the roadmap for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Things heated up after the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Bihar unit put up posters showing state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar holding hands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and showcased party chief Arvind Kejriwal as a prime ministerial candidate for the 2024 elections.

"There is neither expectation, nor trust. The citizens of India should be alert. This is Nitish Kumar, a close aide of PM Modi," the poster put up by AAP in Patna read.

The BJP was quick to hit back with a new poster which called the opposition leaders 'The Thugs of India'. It had pictures of opposition leaders including Nitish Kumar, Tejashvi Yadav, Rahul Gandhi, Uddhav Thackeray, Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, and MK Stalin. A line on the poster said, "The grand meeting of the parties engrossed in dynasty politics and corruption."

Bihar's former deputy chief minister and BJP leader Sushil Modi said that the opposition leaders would fall on their faces as they were getting united only against the BJP and not for the betterment or development of the country.

"Three to four Opposition leaders want to become PM and no one cares about India. Nitish Kumar has failed in Bihar and he will fail again to unite the Opposition.  Nothing will come out of this meeting as this is' Chai Bhoj ' and ' Litti Chokha ' meet. Let them enjoy Bihar food. Some have fallen deeply into the pits of Parivarvaad and some into the pits of corruption," Sushil Modi told Republic.

Agenda of opposition parties' meeting on June 23

Sources in the Left parties told Republic that it was important for all opposition parties to reach a consensus in order to take on the BJP. "There are some issues amongst a few opposition parties. The parties should meet and find a solution as they have the same goal, which is, to defeat the BJP. No consensus has yet been reached on issues like the Delhi Ordinance and the Common Minimum Programme, and therefore, the first agenda has to be to clear the issues within," they said.

A Left leader told Republic that bringing opposing parties together was very difficult. "It is difficult to bring the TMC and the CPI(M) together. Similarly, there are issues between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress. With the recent development on Ordinance row, AAP too is upset with the Congress. It is also difficult to unite the regional parties in the southern part of India. YSRCP and BRS are also not with us whereas Naveen Patnaik's BJD has failed to convey its stand despite having an understanding with Nitish Kumar," the leader said.

The agenda of opposition parties meeting includes:

• Common citizen-centric issues
• Alleged targeting by central agencies of the opposition and how to portray a united stand
• Seat-sharing formula
• To clear disputes between SP, Congress, TMC, and Left
• The Ordinance issue raised by AAP will be heard but no decision will be made in this meeting

A senior NCP leader informed Republic that the main motive of the party will be to set a common agenda for the opposition. "Many leaders are aspiring to become the prime ministerial face of the opposition but the decision will be made on the basis of all the votes of the participating parties."

"We have told others that if a joint opposition candidate will be pitched, then Congress must get the say in almost 350 seats because it is the old and the major opposition party against the BJP and no one can deny that. But we are open to what others have to say on it. But the first priority is to fight together. The seat is secondary. It's opposition vs the BJP," he said.