Sonia, Mamata to join Lalu Prasad Yadav rally in August

New Delhi/Patna: Keeping an eye on the 2019 elections, the Opposition parties led by Congress president Sonia Gandhi intend to send a signal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP by sharing a dais on August 27 in Patna.

Mrs Gandhi confirmed on Wednesday that she and her son Rahul, the Congress vice-president, will be a part of the RJD’s “BJP bhagao-desh bachao” rally in Patna that day. Besides the Congress leaders, Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has also confirmed that she will be there.

The Lalu Prasad Yadav-led RJD has also been holding parleys with the Akhilesh Yadav-led Sama-jwadi Party, BSP president Mayawati and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal over joining the rally. So far none of these leaders have confirmed their participation. Also, the JD(U), which runs Bihar’s grand secular alliance government with the RJD and the Congress, has not yet confirmed that it will be participating.

JD(U) national spokesman K.C. Tyagi, when contacted, said that “a decision will shortly be taken”. However, JD(U) president and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar had said on Monday that he would attend the rally if he was formally invited. Mr Kumar will, meanwhile, arrive in New Delhi on Thursday to meet the Opposition leaders and senior JD(U) leaders, including Sharad Yadav and Mr Tyagi.

While Mr Kumar has not yet taken a call on the rally, he has also refused to conduct any probe against the RJD chief and his family members over the income-tax raids that were conducted at several locations on Tuesday. On Tuesday, when asked about the raids, he said: “If they (Centre) have the documents regarding the alleged scam, they should take legal recourse to prove their accusations. This is not an issue that falls in the domain of the state government.”

Despite the corruption charges and income-tax raids on premises linked to Mr Lalu Yadav and his family, the Opposition intends to “rally around him”. On Tuesday, as the raids were on, Ms Mamata Banerjee expressed solidarity with the beleagured RJD chief and tweeted: “Lalu Ji we accept your invitation to be there on August 27”. The tweet was in response to Mr Lalu Yadav’s tweet on Sunday in which he accused the BJP of “conspiring” against him.

With the Narendra Modi juggernaut appearing to be unstoppable, the Opposition led by the Congress has been trying to come under one umbrella for the 2019 general election. At this juncture, given the political scenario, the BJP seems all set to return to power in Gujarat and could give the Congress a run for its money in Karnataka. While the Gujarat Assembly elections will be held by the end of this year, Karnataka will go to polls early next year.