Patna (Bihar) [India], June 23 : Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday addressed the party workers at Bihar State Congress office Sadakat Ashram and said that there is a war of ideology going on in India between the Congress party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress leader KC Venugopal were also present at the party office ahead of the Opposition leaders' meeting.
"There is a war of ideology going on in India. On one side is Congress party's 'Bharat Jodo' ideology and on the other RSS and BJP's 'Bharat Todo' ideology. Congress party's DNA is in Bihar," Rahul Gandhi said to party workers in Bihar's Patna.
"BJP is working to spread hate, violence and break the country. We are working to spread love and unite," he added
Ahead of the Opposition's party meeting, Rahul said Opposition parties have come here today and together we will defeat BJP.
Hitting out at BJP and he said we will win Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan and BJP will be nowhere to be seen. We will win because we stand with the poor.
Earlier today, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge arrived in Bihar's Patna to attend the Opposition leaders' meeting hosted by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, with an aim to arrive at a consensus to forge a united Opposition front to take on the BJP.
While addressing the party workers Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that if the party wins in Bihar they can win across the country.
"If we win Bihar, then we can win across the country," Kharge said while addressing the party workers in Patna.
He also appealed to the people to unite and work in favour of the country and its democracy.
"I appeal to you to come together despite differences and work in favour of the country and its democracy. We must take forward what Rahul Gandhi has started," he said.
Leaders of Opposition parties from across the country are set to meet in Patna to chalk out a strategy to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
As leaders of several opposition parties arrived in Patna on Thursday, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) president Jayant Chaudhary decided to skip the conclave due to a "pre-decided family program". Chaudhary, however, hoped the meeting will be an "important milestone in the path of opposition unity".
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, and PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti were among the leaders who reached Patna ahead of the meeting.
On her arrival in Patna, Mamata Banerjee called on Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) patriarch and former Bihar CM Lalu Yadav and his son and state Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav.
The Opposition picked Patna as a venue for its meeting as it represents the 1974 call of total revolution by Jayaprakash Narayan that toppled Indira Gandhi's majority government.
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