Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar disclosed on Thursday that his Telangana counterpart K. Chandrashekar Rao did not invite him to the rally organised by his party Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) (previously Telangana Rashtra Samithi) at Khammam, which several other Opposition leaders attended.

“I do not know. I was engaged in some other work. If anybody conducts a meeting of his party, then those who had the opportunity would have gone to attend it. It was a rally of his party. It is good if he invited some people to it. Let him do it. We were not (invited)…,” Nitish told reporters in Patna when asked about Rao’s rally.

Stressing that he was busy visiting different districts of the state as part of his ‘Samadhan Yatra’, Nitish, whose Janata Dal United (JDU) is a part of the ruling Grand Alliance in Bihar, added that it would have been difficult for him to go even if he had been invited.

Though Nitish asserted that not being invited was not an issue, he pointed out that no front or alliance had formed at Rao’s rally.

“Do not think that somebody has become something, or some parties have formed something at some place. There is no such thing. People keep going to attend such meetings organised by other parties when invited. Did he (Rao) not come here,” Nitish asked.

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, CPI general secretary D. Raja were among the Opposition leaders who attended Rao’s rally on Wednesday.

However, Nitish’s revelation about not being invited by Rao came as a surprise and also highlighted how unity could be a chimaera for the Opposition parties trying to range themselves against the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

In fact, Rao was the first Opposition leader from another state whom Nitish had invited for a meeting in Patna in August last year after switching over from the National Democratic Alliance to discuss a broad-based unity for the next general elections.

After meeting Rao, the Bihar chief minister had gone to Delhi and met several senior non-BJP politicians, including Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Kejriwal, former Karnataka chief minister and Janata Dal Secular leader H.D. Kumaraswamy, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI general secretary D. Raja, Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, Indian National Lok Dal leader Om Prakash Chautala and others.

Talking further on the occasion, Nitish touched on the issue of unity and said that his efforts will continue for it.

“Let me first finish my work here. I have already talked to others. We will then see what happens and how many people come together. We are already together in Bihar. We have talked to many people in the neighbouring states. Right now I am engaged in this work (Samadhan Yatra) and then the budget session of the Legislative Assembly is there. I will be free once these things are over and will do whatever is needed,” Nitish added.

The Bihar chief minister repeated his plans to tour the country for the sake of uniting the Opposition parties against the BJP.

“I will keep working for it (unity). I will go wherever I am called. Understand one thing, which I am repeatedly saying. I have no desire for myself. I just want one thing, which is more and more Opposition people unite and march forward. It will be in the interest of the country,” Nitish said.

Senior JDU leaders confided to The Telegraph about the reasons that could have been behind Rao not extending the invitation to Nitish, even for the sake of courtesy.

“The foremost reason is that Nitish has made it clear that there cannot be any worthwhile Opposition unity without the Congress being a part of it, and is waiting for Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat JodoYatra to get over so that talks on unity could progress. Rao is contesting against the Congress in his own poll-bound Telangana. It seems kind of impossible that he will travel in the same boat with Congress to take on the BJP,” a senior JDU leader said on the condition of anonymity.

“Besides, Rao could be hoping to lead any front and alliance against the BJP and could be harbouring a desire to be the Prime Ministerial candidate,” the JDU leader added.