Bihar CM Nitish Kumar meets Kharge, Rahul; discusses roadmap for opposition unity

PTI, May 22, 2023, 5:28 PM IST

Image credit: Twitter / @INCIndia / Video screengrab

New Delhi: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi here on Monday, the second such meeting in the last one and a half months amid efforts to strengthen Opposition unity to take on the BJP in the 2024 general elections.

Kumar met Kharge and Gandhi at the Congress chief’s 10, Rajaji Marg residence here. Sources said during the meeting the roadmap for strengthening Opposition unity and a possible meeting of Opposition leaders in Patna was being discussed.

Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal and JD(U) chief Lalan Singh were also present during the meeting, which came a day after Kumar and Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal called for opposition unity to take on the BJP.

The JD(U) leader met the AAP convenor at his residence here and extended ”complete support” to him in the ongoing face-off with the Centre over the control of administrative services.

Significantly, Bihar Chief Minister Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah attended the swearing-in ceremony of Siddaramaiah as the Karnataka chief minister on Saturday, in a show of opposition unity.

Nitish Kumar has been meeting Opposition leaders and regional satraps as part of the unity exercise which is yet to take a concrete shape.

Late last month, Kumar had hinted that a meeting of opposition leaders may take place in Patna after the Karnataka assembly polls were over and issues related to forging opposition unity are expected to be discussed at length at that meeting.