Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge termed their meeting with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his Deputy Tejashwi Yadav a historic step in a bid for Opposition unity. Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge here in the presence of Rahul Gandhi. The meeting at Kharge’s residence comes amid talks of Opposition unity ahead of the 2024 general elections. “Historic step taken to unite opposition parties; it is a process, will develop Opposition’s vision for country,” former Congress MP Gandhi said while addressing the media after the meet. Rahul said that Congress aims to take all parties along in this ideological battle and unitedly fight the attack on institutions.
“Today we had a historic meeting here and discussed many issues. We all have decided to unite all (opposition) parties and fight the upcoming elections unitedly,” Kharge said.
Answering media queries on the number of parties expected to join the grand alliance, CM Nitish said “We will try to unite as many parties as possible and work together in future.”
Kumar arrived here on Tuesday is expected to meet a slew of Opposition leaders during his stay in the national capital. Tejashwi Yadav is also in Delhi as he appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the alleged land-for-jobs scam.
Kharge has spoken to several opposition leaders recently in an attempt to forging unity among like-minded parties to take on the BJP. He has reached out to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, and may have a meeting with top opposition leaders in the coming weeks.
Janata Dal United president Lalan Singh also accompanied Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav in the meeting. Further, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha and former union minister Salman Khurshid were also present in the meeting held at Kharge`s residence.
The meeting between the leaders assumed significance amid efforts by leaders of several opposition parties to forge a united opposition alliance to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The meeting took place after a dinner party hosted by Congress chief Kharge at his residence in Delhi recently. “During the dinner party, JDU chief Lalan Singh had urged Congress to spearhead the efforts to unite the opposition parties,” news agency ANI quoted sources as saying.
