Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi at the former’s residence in Delhi to discuss ‘united Opposition’ ahead of General Election 2024.
Holding a press conference in the presence of Congress leaders- Gandhi and Kharge, Kumar said he will string to bring all Opposition parties together. We completed the last round talk with Congress, he added.
Batting for united Opposition, Gandhi said this is a historic step to unite the Opposition and we will develop the vision of the opposition parties and move forward; we will all stand together for the country.
Kharge has spoken to several Opposition leaders recently for forging unity among like-minded parties to take on the BJP. He reached out to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, and may have a meeting with top opposition leaders in the coming weeks.
It is speculated that the JD(U) supremo will also meet leaders of non-BJP parties in a bid to forge an alliance to take on the saffron party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. According to party insiders, Kumar may attempt to meet AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and other regional parties’ chiefs.
Kumar, on several occasions in the past, advised all Opposition parties, including the Congress, to join hands to defeat the BJP in 2024.
On the chief minister’s visit to Delhi, Bihar BJP chief Samrat Choudhary said, “Kumar’s dream to become the prime minister would never fulfill as the people of the country believe in PM Narendra Modi and his leadership.
There is no unity among the opposition leaders at all”. However, Kumar had stated several times that he does not have any ambition to become the prime minister. The Bihar CM had gone to Delhi in September last year when he met leaders such as Sharad Pawar, Arvind Kejriwal, D Raja, Sitaram Yechuri and Akhilesh Yadav.
A “united front” would be able to reduce the BJP to less than 100 seats”, Kumar had said in February while speaking at the 11th general convention of the CPI(ML-L) which has extended outside support to the Kumar-led Mahagathbandhan government.
