Ahead of his Delhi visit on September 5, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar visited his ally and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad in Patna. Both the leaders discussed the current political situation and the Opposition’s strategies for the 2024 parliamentary polls.
Mr. Kumar later flew to Delhi along with three party leaders to meet national leaders in his bid to forge Opposition unity against the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the 2024 polls.
Mr. Kumar drove to the official residence of former Chief Minister Rabri Devi, wife of Mr. Prasad, at 10, Circular Road and was welcomed by Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and Ms. Devi. “Yes, we met and discussed some political issues. The meetings between us should be done on regular basis”, Mr. Kumar told media persons.
Later, JD(U) national president Rajeev Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh too met Mr. Prasad. Mr. Kumar flew to Delhi along with Mr. Singh, Ashok Choudhury and Sanjay Jha. He met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and is expected to meet some Left leaders as well. Mr. Kumar is also scheduled to meet the President and the Vice-President and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during his Delhi visit.
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‘Committed mistake’
Recently, the two-day national executive and council meetings of the JD(U) concluded on September 4 in which Mr. Kumar announced that if there was unity of the Opposition parties, “the BJP would be limited to only 50 seats in the Lok Sabha polls in 2024”. He said “as long as his party [JD-U] is there, there will never be an alliance with the BJP again”. Mr. Kumar said it was his “mistake” to join hands again with the BJP in 2017.
Senior BJP leader and MP Sushil Kumar Modi said, “Nitish Kumar has lost his credibility and the doors of the BJP have been shut for him forever”. “He [Nitish] is beating chameleon in changing colours and again he will make a turnaround but the doors of the BJP have now been shut for him forever”, said Mr. Modi, known to be close to Mr. Kumar for several years. “Once again he will make another turnaround on the voice of his conscience but this time even after his best efforts the doors of the BJP will be shut for him”, asserted Mr. Modi, adding, “Bihar has to pay a heavy price for Mr. Kumar’s mistakes”.
