Nitish Kumar hosts rainbow opposition camp in Patna in search for 'defeat Modi' formula

Congress top leader Rahul Gandhi, party president Mallikarjun Kharge, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party head Arvind Kejriwal, leaders from the Communist parties and others are participating the meeting, which has been called by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) "photo session".

Mamata, an arch-rival of BJP but also maintains frequent distance from Congress, will interestingly share the platform with Rahul, the politician son of Congress veteran Sonia Gandhi with whom the West Bengal Chief Minister maintains a warm relationship.

Meanwhile, AAP, which opposes Congress in Delhi, has threatened to boycott the meeting if the grand old party does not support the Kejriwal government against the Centre's ordinance over powershare in the national capital.

However, AAP's presence in the meeting where Congress is playing a vital role is as interesting as Mamata sharing the platform with the Communists.

Mamata on Thursday flew down to Patna, met Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar but spared less words over the meeting.

Discussion would be held in the meeting to find ways on how to achieve the goal of fighting one to one against BJP in Lok Sabha elections, Mamata said but refused to share details saying she would talk to the media after the meeting on Friday.

The re-energisation of the Opposition camp started particularly after Congress stunned mighty BJP in the recently concluded Karnataka assembly elections, which was comprehensively won by the grand old party.

The opposition camp, which aimed to function under an umbrella even in the past, faced questions from BJP, which is spearheaded by supremely popular Prime Minister Modi, on who would lead it.

But for the day, perhaps the biggest challenge for the opposition parties will be to strategise on how to avoid friction between the outfits in respective states.

For instance, Mamata, who is in power in West Bengal, often accuses the Left, Congress and BJP of working in tandem to defeat her TMC. The allegations of Mamata comforting BJP and Prime Minister Modi are often levelled by Left and Congress.

Leaving the AAP-Congress friction in Delhi, Left and Congress are rivals camps in Kerala among many such scenarios in various states.

Moreover, the discussions are likely to take place on how to place a common candidate in each state against Modi's BJP, which have excelled even after a massive Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance in 2019 General elections but was hammered by the grand alliance in 2015 Bihar polls.

Apparently not giving much importance to the opposition meeting, Union Home Minister BJP top leader Amit Shah said, "Today a photo session is underway in Patna. All opposition leaders are uniting on a dais but they want to challenge PM Modi and NDA.

"I want to tell them that such unity is never possible and even if it is possible, Narendra Modi will become PM again in 2024 by winning more than 300 seats."