Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Sunday, following up on a call he had sounded earlier in the day for Opposition unity against the BJP.
The Janata Dal United leader was accompanied by RJD leader Lalu Prasad to the meeting with Sonia.
Hours earlier, Nitish had at a rally in Haryana, where a broad spectrum of non-Congress, non-BJP parties shared the stage, stressed the need for all Opposition parties to join hands to defeat the BJP in 2024.
“If all the Opposition parties come together, they (the BJP) will not be able to win in 2024,” Nitish said. He added that the “Congress should also join” the platform.
Nitish said he had held talks with NCP chief Sharad Pawar and the Congress leadership on the need for Opposition unity.
The occasion for the rally was the birthday of the late socialist leader Devi Lal, a former deputy Prime Minister. It was organised by the Haryana-based Indian National Lok Dal, led by Devi Lal’s son Om Prakash Chautala.
On the stage were Nitish, his deputy chief minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Pawar, Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and others.
Although the Congress had not been invited to the rally, sources said that Nitish and Lalu had at the meeting with Sonia discussed ways of getting the Congress and regional parties to coordinate for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
“This was Nitishji’s first meeting with Soniaji after he left the BJP. Nitishji has been trying to reconcile the differences between the Congress and some regional parties,” a JDU leader said.
Nitish told the rally that Hindus and Muslims had no enmity and accused the BJP of creating disturbances for political gain.
Tejashwi highlighted how ally after ally was deserting the BJP and termed the ruling party a “Badka Jhutha Party (Big Liar Party)”.
He said the Sena, Akali Dal and the JDU had left the BJP’s side to “save the Constitution” and asserted: “There is no NDA now.”
Pawar, seen as key to any effort to unite the Opposition, expressed hope at the rally that the BJP would be defeated in the 2024 election.
He spoke about farmer suicides and underscored that many who had agitated peacefully against the three now-revoked farm laws had been slapped with criminal charges.
“Assurances were given that the cases would be withdrawn but they haven’t been, so far. The farmers are forced to repeatedly appear in court,” he said.
“We need to remove those who create such circumstances. In 2024, when we get an opportunity, we shall together defeat this government.”
Yechury too underlined the need for Opposition unity, saying: “If we have to save our nation, we need to remove the BJP.”
“This is not Mann Ki Baat,” he added, in an allusion to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s monthly radio broadcast, “this is dil ki baat (what the heart says).”