Nitish, Tejashwi meet Kharge, Rahul on unity

NEW DELHI: Before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a semblance of Opposition unity was at display with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav meeting Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi. Indications were given that Mr Kumar will speak to other like-minded parties to stitch together a wide-ranging Opposition alliance against the BJP.

Sources said that a meeting of Opposition parties will be held later this month to draw a roadmap for a united fight against the BJP in next year's parliamentary election. “In the meeting likely to be held in the last week of April, an announcement will be made giving an important role to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar to bring all like-minded parties together. There is a discussion going on in the Opposition camp that Congress will play junior partner in states where the regional parties are in a direct fight with the BJP,” they said, adding that a change of guard is likely to take place in Bihar in July.

Afterwards, the Congress president said that this had been a historic meeting and it was decided to unite all parties to fight the upcoming polls together.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi noted that this was a process to unite the parties and the Opposition’s vision will be developed together. “We will take all the parties together in this ideological battle. We will unitedly fight the attack on institutions and the country and will take an important step in this regard,” Mr Gandhi said.

The Bihar chief minister said that they will try to unite more and more Opposition parties. “We will together carry on efforts in this regard,” Mr Kumar said.

In a tweet in Hindi, Mr Kharge said: “Will preserve the Constitution and save democracy. Rahul Gandhi ji and we met Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar ji, deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav ji and other leaders, reiterated our resolve to raise the voice of the people together and give a new direction to the country.”

The Opposition leaders also had lunch at Mr Kharge’s residence, where JD(U) president Rajiv Ranjan Lalan Singh,  Bihar Congress chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh, Congress leader Salman Khurshid and RJD leader Manoj Jha were also present.

The JD(U), RJD and the Congress are in a coalition government in Bihar and the three parties are in talks to bring other Opposition parties together on a common platform in their fight against the BJP.

Mr Kumar arrived here on Tuesday and is expected to meet a slew of Opposition leaders during his stay in the national capital. Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav is also in the national capital as he appeared before the Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the alleged land-for-jobs scam.

Recently Mr Kharge has spoken to several Opposition leaders in an attempt to forge unity among like-minded parties to take on the BJP. He has reached out to Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin and former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, and may have a meeting with top Opposition leaders in the coming weeks.