Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad was on Monday irked by the BJP’s claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would return to power in 2024 and asserted that the INDIA bloc would oust him from power.
“You all are telling just one thing daily that Modi is coming to power! They (the BJP) are saying he will come to power. If that is so, let it be,” an annoyed Lalu retorted when asked about the BJP’s claim.
The RJD chief interacted with journalists at Patna airport while leaving for Delhi with his younger son and deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav to attend the fourth meeting of INDIA.
“We are going to attend the meeting tomorrow (Tuesday). We all have to contest the elections together. We will fight united and remove him (Modi) from power,” Lalu added.
After landing at Delhi airport, the RJD chief asserted that INDIA has “a bright future” and that all partners would attend its meeting.
“We are united and we will win. We will uproot the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. INDIA will form the government at the Centre this time. We will contest the Lok Sabha polls with the formula of ‘one seat, one candidate’ to check the division of votes,” Lalu said.
Although the Opposition alliance has not made public the agenda for its Delhi meeting, sources said that it would discuss seat sharing, joint rallies and campaigns, and developing a common minimum programme under the theme of “We, not I” for the coming Lok Sabha polls.
The Opposition alliance formed to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is meeting in Delhi for the first time after the results of the Assembly polls in five states — Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram — earlier this month. The BJP has emerged stronger by grabbing the first three.
The alliance took shape at the behest of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who, after quitting the National Democratic Alliance in August 2022, met almost all prominent Opposition leaders in the country, asking them to unite to take on the BJP.
The first meeting of the Opposition parties took place in Patna in June this year and was followed up with meetings in Bangalore and Mumbai.
Nitish is slated to leave for Delhi late on Monday evening to attend the INDIA meeting. His close aide and state finance minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said that the BJP’s defeat would be certain if the allies agreed on seat sharing as soon as possible.