Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 14 : Shiv Sena (Uddhav Bal Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut on Friday lauded the efforts to forge Opposition unity and said that the entire opposition will remain united in 2024 Lok Sabha polls to shatter Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) "illusions".
"Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi have started to unite the opposition, we welcome it," Rajya Sabha MP said while speaking to reporters.
"BJP's view has been that the opposition should not stay together, but this illusion of theirs will be shattered. Entire opposition will remain united in 2024," he added.
Raut's remarks come a day after NCP chief Sharad Pawar met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi, and spoke on the need to talk to other parties and to move together in the fight for various issues concerning people.
The meeting took place at Kharge's residence with the leaders talking about the beginning of the process to unite the Opposition.
Kharge said Pawar came directly from Mumbai and "provided us guidance".
He referred to the talks yesterday after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav met him and Rahul Gandhi.
"Yesterday we talked that we will keep opposition unity and work to save the country, democracy and protect the Constitution...issues like freedom of speech and expression, employment to youth and inflation, misuse of autonomous bodies, we are ready to fight unitedly on all these issues and will talk to all the parties one after the other," Kharge said.
He said Pawar also said that he will talk to various opposition parties and try for a united fight in the future.
"We should all work together for the nation and in its interest and this why we are meeting. The like-minded parties, others we should take all along, there was discussion on this," he said.
Pawar said a process has to be started for opposition unity and this just the beginning.
"Our thinking is exactly what Kharge ji told you. But mere thinking will not help. A process needs to be started...This is just the beginning. After this, talks will be held with other important opposition parties - be it Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal or others - to try to integrate them into this process..." he said.
Rahul Gandhi said it is just the beginning and all parties are committed to the process.
"What Kharge ji and Pawar ji said, is that a process has begun to unite the Opposition. This is the beginning. All parties are committed to this process," he said.
Pawar's meeting with Kharge and Rahul Gandhi came a day after Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav had met them. Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav also met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday.
Sources said there will be a meeting of opposition parties by the end of April after consultations with them and Nitish Kumar and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge will talk to the opposition parties.
After the meeting, Kharge had talked of fighting the polls unitedly. Rahul Gandhi also talked of "standing together and fighting together".
Delhi CM had said it is essential for all opposition parties to unite and oust the BJP-led government in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Rahul Gandhi described the meeting with Janata Dal-United and RJD leaders as a "historic step" towards opposition unity and for an ideological fight.
Kharge had earlier this month telephoned Nitish Kumar, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
The meetings are being seen as an attempt by Congress and other opposition parties to take forward their "unity" displayed during the budget session of Parliament session that concluded on April 6.
The session saw continuous disruptions over the opposition's demand for a JPC probe into the Hindenburg-Ad row.
The opposition parties also slammed the government over the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha following his conviction by a Surat court in a criminal defamation case.
Reacting to the gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed's son Asad's encounter, Raut said that a maximum number of encounters have happened in Mumbai, and several 'encounter specialists' were sent to 'jail'.
"The maximum number of encounters have happened in Mumbai. They were given the title of encounter specialists, but almost all of them went to jail. Some people in Mumbai went to court with evidence against such encounters. Then after an investigation, many encounter specialists were jailed," Rajya Sabha MP said on the encounter.
"If they are terrorists, then an encounter should happen. If it is a mafia, then such encounters keep happening," added Raut.
Gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahemd's son Asad, and another accused, Ghulam, were wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case and were killed in an encounter by Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) in Jhansi on Thursday.
Refusing to speak on the encounter by Uttar Pradesh STF, Raut said, "Why should I speak for some other state? They have their own chief ministers and other ministers. They will look into the law and order of their state. I can only talk about Mumbai and Maharashtra."
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