Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal United (JDU) leader Nitish Kumar on Monday arrived in New Delhi on a three-day visit, where a palette of Opposition parties is awaiting him to paint a picture of unity against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
He started it with a meeting with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. The meeting between the two leaders lasted 50 minutes. Nitish did not talk to reporters after the meeting. Sources said they discussed how to bring the entire Opposition on a single platform or ‘front’, the place of the Grand Old Party in it, and utilise the synergy achieved by the unity. Over the next two days, Nitish is expected to meet CPI general secretary D. Raja, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPI-ML general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya.
Nitish is also slated to confabulate with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and former Haryana chief minister and Indian National Lok Dal leader Om Prakash Chautala during the visit.
Sources said that some senior leaders from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and a few other parties from south India may also meet him during his Delhi stay. The Bihar chief minister had met his Telangana counterpart, K. Chandrashekar Rao, in Patna on August 31. Both of them had discussed the need for Opposition Unity to ensure a ‘BJP Mukta Bharat’ (BJP-free India) and had indicated that a front could be formed for the purpose.Nitish quit the NDA on August 9 and is trying to do away with his image of a politician who somersaults according to his interest. While addressing the two-day national executive in Patna on Sunday, he had accepted that it was a mistake to join hands with the BJP again in 2015. He also asserted that it won’t happen again. Meanwhile, before leaving for Delhi, Nitish met Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad in Patna.“I met Lalu ji. Our thoughts are the same. Our opinions are the same and we have agreed (about the need for Opposition unity). I am going to Delhi for the purpose and have a meeting with Rahul Gandhi also. I will meet other people also,” Nitish said before taking the flight to Delhi.
Lalu’s wife and former chief minister Rabri Devi and younger son and Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav were also present when Nitish arrived at their 7, Circular Road residence in Patna.The efforts by Nitish are being seen as an attempt to forge a broad-based Opposition unity and to position himself as a serious contender to Narendra Modi, though he has denied harbouring such a desire. “Nitish ji has embarked on his Delhi tour. Leaders of our allies Congress and the Left parties, including the CPI, CPM and CPI-ML are there and he will meet them. Many other leaders congratulated him for taking the decision to quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in national and state interest.
He will meet them also,” Tejashwi said. On whether the Bihar chief minister will be the prime ministerial candidate of the Opposition, Tejashwi said: “He (Nitish) has clearly stated that his only aim is to unite the Opposition parties across the country and he is not the prime ministerial candidate. It is a big task that he has taken up to check the communal forces and those who are selling our country’s property.”The RJD leader also said that the unified Opposition would fight against poverty, unemployment, inflation, ruining of the economy and the misuse of the constitutional offices.
