New Delhi [India], June 23 : Union Minister Smriti Irani on Friday took a swipe at the Opposition meeting in Patna, terming it as "a selfish alliance targeting India".
Addressing a press conference after top Opposition leaders came together in Patna in a bid to shore up a grand alliance against the BJP at the Centre, Irani said, "Political parties, which never saw eye to eye, came together today. This selfish alliance wants to deprive India of economic development. This is an alliance of leaders who speak in different voices. TMC workers would never have thought that their leader, Mamata Banerjee, would go into a meeting, which also comprised the same Communist party whose leaders had insulted her and pulled her hair on the streets. The Congress workers would never have imagined that one day, the blood-stained hands of Mamata will be on Rahul Gandhi's head (in a manner of blessing)."
The mega Opposition meeting, convened by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, featured representatives of 17 parties including the TMC, Congress, CPMI(M), AAP and NCP, among others.
Irani added that whenever these Opposition parties came together, they only brought "corruption and nepotism, and weakened the country's economic growth".
Meanwhile, on Friday, the top Opposition leaders brainstormed on a roadmap for the formation of an anti-BJP front for next year's Lok Sabha polls.
Nitish Kumar, also the Janata Dal (United) chief, said that it was a "good meeting" in Patna where the Opposition leaders resolved to fight the next general elections together.
The next meeting of like-minded parties will be held at Shimla in Himachal Pradesh next month, Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge said.
He added that the Opposition parties will meet in Shimla to carry forward the process of formation of an anti-BJP front for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
"We will meet again in July in Shimla to prepare an agenda on how to move ahead together and take the fight to the BJP in 2024," Kharge said.
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