The Communist Party of India (CPI) on Tuesday appealed to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar to stay with the INDIA bloc to fight the BJP.

It came at a time when the Janata Dal United (JDU) president was showing signs of pulling out of the Opposition bloc.

“I met Nitish Kumar at his residence yesterday (Monday) and told him that INDIA has emerged as an alternative to the BJP-RSS combine and we have to stay and fight together to save the country and ensure that the BJP does not get any advantage. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah are jittery and worried about the Opposition alliance,” CPI general secretary D. Raja told reporters on Tuesday.

Raja pointed out that his party was a part of the Grand Alliance in Bihar, which was in turn a part of INDIA, and asserted that it (CPI) would “see to it that all the allies stay together” in the general elections.

The Left party leader was in Patna on a two-day visit to meet his party’s state leadership to discuss preparations for the coming Lok Sabha elections and to talk with the allies. He also dialled Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav.

However, when asked about Nitish’s suitability for the position of INDIA convener or as the prime ministerial candidate, Raja said that the decision on the PM candidate or the common minimum programme of the alliance would be taken “collectively”.

“Nitish is one of the top leaders of the alliance. He is experienced and he knows the role he has to play to save the country,” Raja added.

Hoping that seat-sharing talks in Bihar would be held in a “conducive atmosphere”, Raja said that the previous meeting of INDIA in Delhi on December 19 had decided and advised the alliance constituents to start seat-sharing negotiations and conclude it as soon as possible.

“Various state party units have started the negotiations formally and informally. It will start in Bihar also very soon. The BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are saying that INDIA will break, but its constituents are mature enough to conduct seat-sharing talks in a meaningful way with mutual understanding and accommodation,” he added.

The JDU asserted on Monday that it would contest all the 16 Lok Sabha seats that it had won out of 40 seats in Bihar in the 2019 parliamentary elections and there could be no compromise on it. It had contested 17 seats back then as a member of the NDA.

JDU leader Nitish is miffed with the Congress for sidelining him in INDIA and not giving him credit for his efforts in shaping the alliance, developmental works in Bihar, caste-based survey, and not heeding his advice to finalise seat distribution at the earliest.

However, the CPI general secretary claimed that there was no delay in seat-sharing talks and everything was on track, with the allies just alerting each other that the time was running out.