New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is travelling in the United States, said on Thursday, June 1, that the 2024 general elections is likely to see a united opposition and that its results will come as a surprise.Hindustan Times and NDTV, along with news agencies like ANI, have reported on the interaction from the National Press Club in Washington.I think the Congress party will do very well in the next two years…there is a hidden undercurrent building…Just do the math, a united opposition will defeat the BJP on its own,” Gandhi said, according to HT.The parliament elections are due next year. Congress has recently won a key assembly election in Karnataka, ousting the Bharatiya Janata Party government in power and at the end of a charged campaign led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on behalf of the latter.Congress has recently expressed its desire of be part of a multi-party opposition front in the Lok Sabha elections, including at its Raipur plenary sessions, when it vowed to “go all out to mobilise like-minded secular forces.”At Washington, Gandhi spoke in favour of ‘give and take’ in what he called a ‘complicated’ discussion.“The opposition is pretty well united. We are having conversations with all the opposition (parties). I think quite a lot of good work is happening there. It’s a complicated discussion because there are spaces where we are competing with the opposition. So a bit of give and take is required,” he said, according to NDTV.“But I am confident that it [an opposition alliance] will happen,” he added.Gandhi also amped up his attack against the BJP, saying that it had captured institutions, and said a few lines on press freedom.“One should be open to criticism. Mahatma Gandhi set up the framework to enable that negotiation fairly and freely. The structure that allows the negotiation between India’s people is coming under pressure.”He also noted how his disqualification from parliament over a two-year sentence following a conviction over a 2019 defamation case will allow him to “completely redefine” himself.“I think they have given me a gift, frankly. They don’t realise it, but they have,” he said.
