Congress to participate in 1st meeting of oppn in Patna on June 12: Jairam

New Delhi, June 1 (IANS) The Congress on Thursday said that a senior party leader will attend the first meeting of like-minded opposition parties in Patna on June 12.

Speaking to the media here, Congress General secretary communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh said: "We are participating in June 12 opposition meeting, who will go will depend on the availability."

A party source said that like Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, Congress has also requested Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to postpone the meeting to a further date.

However, being the first meeting of the opposition, the Congress accepted the request to join the meeting on June 12.

Earlier it was speculated the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal would be in attendance.

There was also speculation that senior Rahul Gandhi would soin the meeting after returning from his US trip.

In April, Kharge had called Nitish Kumar, Uddhav Thackeray and Stalin in a bid to initiate process to bring like-minded parties ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Nitish Kumar then initiated the process and met several leaders.

The Bihar leader has been spearheading the campaign to unite all the like-minded parties to forge an alliance against the BJP-led NDA for next year.

Nitish Kumar, along with his deputy Tejashwi Yadav, met Kharge and Rahul Gandhi in April and May.

Besides the Congress leaders, the Janata Dal-United leader has also met NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury, CPI leader D. Raja, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackaeray and others in a bid to bring all the like minded together.

According to sources, at least 16 opposition parties have given their consent to attend the Patna meeting.

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