“We have worked and people are with us”: Priyanka Chaturvedi takes dig at BJP ahead of INDIA meeting
Mumbai: Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasabheb Thackeray faction) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said that it is a good sign that party members want their individual Chief Ministers to be the Prime Ministerial candidate in the INDIA alliance. However, she claimed that if Union Minister Nitin Gadkari's name came forth for the Prime Ministerial candidate, by mistake, his political career would be over.
Reacting to the Aam Aadmi Chief National Spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar on wishing Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to be the Prime Ministerial candidate in the INDIA alliance, Priyanka Chaturvedi said, "It is fine...If someone asks me, I will say Uddhav Thackeray should be the one (PM candidate of the INDIA alliance). On hand, there is the BJP that, out of fear, can take just one name. If Nitin Gadkari's name comes forth mistakenly, his career is ended."
Speaking to ANI, on the upcoming INDIA alliance meeting in Mumbai, Chaturvedi said, "On the other hand, is us - six sitting CMs are coming (to the meeting), senior leaders are coming. We have worked and people are with us. We have a leadership where people can take names openly..."
The third meeting of opposition parties is scheduled to take place in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1. The opposition parties held the second meeting in Bengaluru and decided to call their alliance INDIA.
Earlier in the day, AAP's Chief National Spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said that she would like Arvind Kejriwal to be the Prime Ministerial candidate given his track record in Delhi in providing free water, education, electricity, bus rides for women and pilgrimage for the elderly.
Speaking to ANI, Priyanka Kakkar said, "If you ask me, I would want Arvind Kejriwal to be the Prime Ministerial candidate. Even in such back-breaking inflation, the national capital Delhi has the lowest inflation. There is free water, free education, free electricity, free bus rides for women, free pilgrimage for the elderly - still a surplus budget is presented. He raises people's issues and rises as a challenger..."
Though her remark threatened to rock the Opposition boat ahead of the Mumbai meeting, the AAP leader said INDIA was working to steer the country in a new direction.
The Mumbai opposition meeting will see discussions on the INDIA bloc's strategies ahead of the upcoming state elections and the all-important general elections next year. The logo of the Opposition alliance is also likely to be unveiled during the two-day meeting.
A total of 26 parties, including the Congress, came together against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre. The inaugural meeting of the alliance was convened by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna on June 23. The second meeting of the group was hosted at Bengaluru in Congress-ruled Karnataka on July 17-18.
