The first task on Nitish Kumar’s rather lengthy “to-do” list for his “Mission Opposition” in Delhi was completed Monday night when he met with Rahul Gandhi of the Congress at his Tughlaq Road mansion.
According to sources, the conversation focused only on 2024 and ways to bring the opposition together. At the conclusion, Mr. Kumar assured reporters that he had no aspiration to hold the position of power.
“Regional parties are being actively undermined. I’m making an attempt to bring the Opposition together before the general elections. I won’t put myself up as a candidate for prime minister, “Mr. Kumar told journalists.
But despite Mr. Kumar’s many denials to the contrary, the rumor that he has his sights set on the Prime Minister’s position, which first surfaced soon after his split from the BJP, shows no signs of dying down.
READ MORE:“People Buy Ration, But BJP Buys Legislators”: Hemant Soren
While Mr. Kumar had expressed a desire to meet with the members of his new Mahagathbandhan coalition in Delhi, he also said that the visit’s primary goal was to unify all of the opposition leaders, which was seen as a formidable challenge.
He has a variety of folks on his list who he wishes to meet.
Arvind Kejriwal, leader of the Aam Aadmi Party and Delhi’s chief executive, is crucial among them.
However, in 2019, attempts to get him into the opposition alliance were unsuccessful due to Congress’ intense hostility to the AAP’s participation in toppling the UPA administration at the Centre.
The second figure Mr. Kumar is interested in seeing is HD Kumaraswamy, the leader of the Janata Dal-Secular, who broke up his coalition with the Congress after they attempted to form a government in Karnataka failed.
The Congress-JDS alliance’s creation underlined the attempts to create the opposition front in 2018 to prevent the BJP from taking power in Karnataka.
In addition, Mr. Kumar is anticipated to meet with the leaders of the Left, supporting his administration in Bihar from the outside, as well as the head of the Nationalist Congress Party, Sharad Pawar, who was the driving force behind attempts to unify the opposition in 2019.
The Bihar Chief Minister is soon expected to go to Maharashtra, Haryana, and Karnataka as part of his “Mission Opposition,” according to insiders in Mr. Kumar’s Janata Dal-United.
K Chandrashekar Rao, the chief minister of Telangana, visited Patna last week to begin this process. Mr. Rao, who has previously advocated for a non-Congress, non-BJP front, signaled that he was open to new ideas.
However, when questioned about it, Mr. Kumar said sharply, “Why Third Front, we are working on the main Front.”
