Soon after ending his alliance with the NDA, Nitish Kumar started the process of uniting opposition parties to take on the BJP in 2024. His math is impeccable, but bringing all the jarring elements together is a difficult task.
Patna,date of issue: October 17, 2022 , Updates: October 7, 2022 18:44 IST
Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav after meeting Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on September 25; (Photo: ANI)
aOn September 26, amid the hustle and bustle of the capital’s Monday morning, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s 6, K. There was a relaxed air at the Kamaraj Lane bungalow—Lutyens’ official abode while he was in Delhi. Neither supporters shouting slogans nor people seeking support in the lawn. The security guards at the gate were having a surprisingly easy time. The place had become a hub of activity a day earlier as Nitish along with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav was set to meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi. With the gravitational forces of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections getting stronger by the day, the two leaders discussed one of India’s hottest political questions: the contours of the anti-BJP opposition. On the same day, Nitish also participated in Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief Om Prakash Chautala’s rally in Fatehabad, Haryana, which was organized to mark the 109th birth anniversary of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal. Nitish, who had left the BJP and formed a mahagathbandhan The RJD, with the Congress and the Left in government in Bihar in August, has now emerged as the key galvaniser of a possible opposition front. At the rally, also attended by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant and Shiromani Akali Dal’s Sukhbir Singh Badal, Nitish laid out a simple formula. “If all these parties come together, they (BJP) will not be able to win the 2024 Lok Sabha elections at all,” he said.
(From left) Sharad Pawar, Om Prakash Chautala, Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav and others at a rally in Fatehabad, Haryana, on September 25; (Photo: PTI)