BSP To Skip Opposition Meet In Patna, Mayawati Attacks Congress

As Patna gears up to host a key Opposition meet on June 23, Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati on Thursday clarified her stance against an opposition alliance.

The crucial meeting hosted by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is being seen as a starting point for the Opposition to come together to take on the Narendra Modi-led BJP.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, party leader Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, her Delhi counterpart and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav, Maharashtra's former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP president Sharad Pawar are among the leaders expected to attend the first high-level opposition meeting.

"In a country suffering from inflation, poverty, unemployment, backwardness, illiteracy, ethnic hatred, religious violence etc., it is clear from the state of the Bahujans that parties like the Congress and BJP are not capable of implementing the humanistic egalitarian constitution framed by Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar," tweeted Mayawati.

"Before any such meeting...it would have been better if these parties, to justify people's faith in them, had come clean on their intentions. How long will 'moonh mein Ram, bagal mein chhuri' last?" Mayawati added.

Mayawati also said that she was upset more importance was not given to leaders from Uttar Pradesh, which has the highest number of Lok Sabha seats.

"80 Lok Sabha seats in UP is said to be the key to electoral success, but it does not seem, from the attitude of the opposition parties, that they are serious and truly concerned about their objective here. Without getting priorities right, will any preps for the Lok Sabha election really matter?" Mayawati questioned.

Naveen Patnaik's BJD and K Chandrasekhar Rao's Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) are also not invited to Patna meet. These parties have been traditionally equidistant from both the BJP and Congress, but have often extended issue-based support to the BJP.