Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal met with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai to discuss opposition unity ahead of the national election in 2024, as well as the alleged misuse of central agencies by the BJP government to target opposition leaders. Venugopal stated that the message he conveyed from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi is that in the current political situation in India and Maharashtra, Thackeray is fighting against anti-democratic forces. Venugopal called for a “broader opposition unity”. Venugopal stated that the Congress, Sena and NCP have their own ideology, but the country is facing bigger issues that they never faced, so they are in agreement that they have to get together and fight. Thackeray added that although everyone has their own ideology, their battle is to save democracy. The BJP has taken swipes at the opposition’s attempt to unite when there are disagreements and even outright hostility between some of them. Congress leader Ajay Maken asked the party not to “support” and “show any sympathy” to Kejriwal as doing so would “confuse” the Congress cadre and “benefit” the BJP. Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur has stated that the opposition parties’ attempts at an alliance are a “thugbandhan” (alliance of thugs).
