Stepping up the bid for Opposition unity, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) supremo Nitish Kumar on Monday met his Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata and Samajwadi party chieftain and former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow. Nitish was accompanied by his Deputy CM and RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav.
Terming it a “futile” exercise and an “opportunistic alliance”, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that the meeting wouldn’t yield any results.
Leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, claimed that the alliance is “half-hearted”.
“Corruption United Front has formed. Chairman Mamata Banerjee and convener Arvind Kejriwal. This alliance is a half-hearted alliance. It has no direction,” he said, as quoted by The Indian Express.
BJP’s co-incharge of West Bengal Amit Malviya tweeted, “It is ironic that Mamata Banerjee who once called Nitish Kumar ‘gaddar’ in a rally in Patna, for not backing her campaign against demonetisation, is today speaking about opposition unity. It tells you a lot about both Mamata and Nitish’s politics of opportunism. Mamata Banerjee should worry about losing ground in Bengal. Last time the BJP won 18 Lok Sabha seats and that number this time would be 35. The less said about Nitish Kumar the better. With 40 odd MLAs, he managed to remain as Bihar CM, because the BJP chose to honour its commitment, only to be back-stabbed later. People of Bihar and West Bengal will respond at the hustings.”
Further BJP’s Rajya Sabha member and ex-deputy CM Sushil Modi mocked the meeting and called it political tourism and photo op, reported News18.
Mamata calls for all-opposition party meet in Bihar
The West Bengal CM held an hour-long meeting with the duo at the state secretariat in Nabanna, and mooted the idea of an all-opposition party meet in Bihar to commemorate socialist leader Jayprakash Narayan (JP)’s ‘total revolution’ movement.
Mamata said, “Opposition parties will sit together and decide the next course of action. If our vision and mission is clear, nothing will be able to stop us.”
“I have requested Nitish ji that just like during the JP movement which began from Bihar in the 1970s, another meeting (of all Opposition parties) should take place in that state. A message should go out that the Opposition is together. After that, we can decide on the manifesto and other details… We are in touch with all other Opposition parties and there is no ego clash,” she said.
“I want BJP to become zero. They have become big heroes with the media’s support, lies and fake videos they push day in and day out. All they indulge in are jumlas and goondaism. We have to give the message that we are all together,” the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo said.
Kumar said that the discussion was “positive”, adding that, “Opposition parties need to sit together and strategies”.
Nitish Kumar meets Akhilesh Yadav
The CM then flew to Lucknow and met Akhilesh Yadav.
Kumar, addressing a joint press conference with Akhilesh, said that efforts will continue to bring together as many Opposition parties as possible in order to “oust the BJP from power” in the 2024 polls. When asked if any decision was taken on who would lead the Opposition front, Kumar said, “No, once the unity takes place, the leader will be decided. And whosoever becomes the leader will work in the interest of the country.”
“And, one thing I would like to tell you … I don’t want anything for myself. I will work in the interest of the country. There will be other people as well, and we will sit and decide,” Kumar added.
Akhilesh also said that the Opposition would come together to oust the saffron party to “save democracy, constitution and the country”.
Notably, earlier both TMC and Samajwadi Party had taken a stance of being equidistant between Congress and the BJP after a meeting between Banerjee and Yadav at her Kalighat residence a month back. However, the stance has been shifting ever since Gandhi was disqualified from his Lok Sabha membership.
The meetings of Nitish Kumar come within 12 days of Kumar holding talks with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge in New Delhi, and also Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal later, thereby signalling a rainbow coalition ahead of the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha elections.