‘Photo session in Patna’, ‘gathbandhan of thugs’: BJP leaders target Patna Opposition meet

“If you get united, come before the voters, it is already decided that Modi will become prime minister in 2024 by winning more than 300 seats,” the home minister added.

Training its guns at the Opposition conclave, the BJP has expressed derision at the gathering of political leaders in Patna, calling it a “gathbandhan (alliance) of thugs.”

“Sitting together for tea does not mean that the opposition is united,” BJP MP Sushil Modi said. “This is a ‘Gathbandhan of Thugs’. They are preparing to fool the country. They have no principle, or policy and all are involved in corruption,” he added.

Asking who will lead the bloc of Opposition parties in their battle against the BJP, former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “Nitish Kumar 2024 ke liye baaraat saja rahe hai Patna mai, baaraat me to dulha bhi hota hai, par is baaraat ka dulha kon hai? (Nitish Kumar is decorating the wedding procession for the 2024 elections in Patna, but who is the groom (PM contender). Everyone is calling themself a PM contender.”

BJP MP and actor Ravi Kishan suggested that Opposition leaders are “scared” and are meeting in Patna to protect their “own interests.” “People born in air-conditioned rooms will not be able to stand in front of (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi…. The Opposition has no face. Don’t know what welfare they will do for the country. They are gathering in Patna for their own interests,” he told reporters on Thursday.

Kishan asserted the saffron party will emerge victorious with 400 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “The opposition will lose the election badly…. Only a handful of people in the country are opposing the Modi government by appearing in TV and newspapers. Modi is the voice of 140 crore people,” the Lok Sabha member from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh said.

BJP leader and Union Minister Smriti Irani took a dig at JD(U) and other opposition parties, saying it was “ironic” that some of the leaders who witnessed the “murder of democracy” during the Emergency have assembled under the Congress’ parasol in Patna. She claimed that they have sent out a message that they are unable to take on Modi on their own.

“Power has moved from the palace to the people. That’s why people who take pride in their political legacy now have to go to those whom they had put behind bars during the Emergency,” she said.

In a veiled attack on Bihar Chief Minister Kumar, she referred to the recent bridge collapse over the Ganga in the state’s Bhagalpur district, and asked, “What kind of democratic bridge will they make who can not even build a bridge.”

Meanwhile, posters displayed outside the BJP office in Patna on Friday portrayed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as ‘real life Devdas’, alluding to a wealthy, disillusioned film character played by Bollywood stars Dilip Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan.

Several Opposition stalwarts arrived in Patna to attend the crucial conclave on Friday, a significant display of multi-party unity against the BJP. Around 18 Opposition parties, including the AAP, Congress, and TMC are expected to attend the joint meeting organised by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

The discussions are expected to set the stage for the formation of a unified third front against the BJP for the 2024 general elections.

(With PTI and ANI inputs)