New Delhi: Hours after meeting his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday met Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and said more will be done to oust the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from power in Bihar. The work of bringing more parties together is going on. General Elections of 2024. Talking to reporters after his meeting, the Janata Dal (United) leader reiterated that no welfare work is being done by the present dispensation which is dependent only on publicity.
When asked whether any decision has been taken on who will lead the United Front, Nitish Kumar said, “No, once the unity is there, the leader will be decided. And whoever becomes the leader will be the leader of the country.” Will work in the best interest.”
Nitish, who was accompanied by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, also said that he did not want to be a leader.
“And, one thing I would like to tell you about myself. I don’t want to be (the leader). Know very well that I am uniting everyone. I don’t want anything for myself. I will work in it.” In the interest of the country. There will be others, and we will sit and decide,” he told reporters.
He also alleged that attempts were being made to change the history of the country.
Former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav supported Nitish’s views and alleged that the poor are suffering because of the BJP’s ‘wrong economic policies’ and that price rise and unemployment are at an ‘all-time high’.
The SP chief told Nitish, ‘Remove BJP and save the country, and we are with you in this campaign.’
Joint Press Conference – Mr. Akhilesh Yadav, National President – Samajwadi Party, Mr. Nitish Kumar – Chief Minister, Bihar, Mr. Tejashwi Yadav – Deputy Chief Minister, Bihar https://t.co/ln6WJZU7X3— Samajwadi Party (@samajwadiparty) April 24, 2023
He said in a tweet, ‘Meeting against BJP’s conspiracy to end democracy, constitution and reservation.’
A meeting against the conspiracy and conspiracy by the BJP to end democracy, constitution and reservation. pic.twitter.com/y5YFs1eLgC— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) April 24, 2023
Earlier this month, in a bid to unite opposition parties ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Nitish Kumar met Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi. He also had a meeting with Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal and party leaders D Raja and Sitaram Yechury to discuss opposition unity.
Analysts believe that since that meeting, the Bihar chief minister has begun gearing up as the catalyst for a unity move to reconcile divergent views.
Meanwhile, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said that she has Asked Nitish to call a meeting of all opposition parties in his home state to ‘prepare together’ for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
“I have just one request to Nitish Kumar. Jayaprakash ji’s movement started from Bihar (Socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan, fondly called JP, started his ‘Total Revolution’ movement against misrule and corruption in 1974 from Patna) Mamta said after meeting Nitish, after the party meeting in Bihar, we can decide where to go next.
She said that she wants the BJP to become zero.
Banerjee walked out of the meeting saying, “We have to send a message that we are all together.”
It is noteworthy that she had held a similar meeting with Akhilesh Yadav and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik last month. The TMC chief had also met former Karnataka CM and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy recently.
Last week, he called up Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin and proposed that a meeting of all opposition parties should be held.