Nitish Kumar explains why AAP was not part of Opposition meet in Patna

Amid speculations of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) skipping the opposition meeting in Bihar’s Patna over tension with Congress on the Ordinance row, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar explained that AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal was not present as he had to go back to the national capital.

“Kejriwal left because he had to return to Delhi,” Kumar said after the meeting.

Earlier, reports suggested that Kejriwal – who wants the Opposition to unify against the ordinance – may object to the meeting if the Congress remains non-committal.

The opposition meeting

The meeting hosted by Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav to explore the possibility of a united front to challenge the ruling BJP in next year’s general election began at 11:30. Around 32 political leaders from 17 parties were in attendance including Trinamool Congress Chief and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Aam Aadmi Party Chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Chief and Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin.

Addressing a joint press conference after an almost four-hour-long meeting, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said the leaders will meet in the next few days to give final shape to their plan of fighting together.

Meanwhile, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge announced that the next opposition meeting will be held in Shimla in Himachal Pradesh next month. “We have decided to prepare a common agenda and will take decisions in the next meeting on how to move forward,” he said.