Opposition leaders discuss unity and alleged misuse of central agencies in meeting with Shiv Sena chief

New Delhi (India), April 18, 2023: In Mumbai on Monday, the General Secretary of the Congress, KC Venugopal, met with Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray to discuss opposition unity ahead of the 2024 national elections and the alleged misuse of central agencies by the BJP government to target opposition leaders.

Venugopal conveyed a message from Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi, stating that Uddhav Ji is fighting against anti-democratic forces in the current political situation in India and Maharashtra.

Venugopal called for broader opposition unity, citing recent meetings between Kharge, Gandhi, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his deputy Tejashwi Yadav, and NCP Chief Sharad Pawar. Venugopal also claimed that the Congress, Sena, and NCP may have their own ideologies, but they will fight the dictatorship of Narendra Modi together.

Thackeray agreed, saying that their battle is to save democracy, despite having their own ideologies.

Thackeray and Gandhi plan to meet each other in the coming weeks, and Thackeray will also visit Delhi soon, according to Venugopal. However, the BJP has taken swipes at the opposition’s attempt to unite, highlighting disagreements and hostility between some of them.

Recently, Congress leader Ajay Maken warned the party not to support or show any sympathy to Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi’s Chief Minister, as doing so would confuse Congress cadres and benefit the BJP.

In response, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur scoffed at the opposition parties’ attempt at an alliance, calling it a “thugbandhan” (an alliance of thugs) and claiming that such experiments had failed in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls.