Nitish, Lalu meet Sonia Gandhi to unite Opposition parties

New Delhi: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav on Sunday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi here in a bid to unite Opposition parties to take on the BJP in the 2024 general elections. The meeting at Gandhi’s 10 Janpath residence is being considered very crucial in forging an Opposition unity […]

New Delhi: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav on Sunday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi here in a bid to unite Opposition parties to take on the BJP in the 2024 general elections.

The meeting at Gandhi’s 10 Janpath residence is being considered very crucial in forging an Opposition unity as efforts are on to reconcile differences between the Congress and some regional parties that have been at loggerheads traditionally.

---

This was Kumar’s first meeting with Gandhi since he severed ties with the BJP and joined hands with the RJD and the Congress to form the government in Bihar in August.

Earlier in the day, Kumar called for uniting all opposition parties, including the Congress and the Left, to take on the BJP and said this “main front of opposition” will ensure that the saffron party loses badly in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

If all non-BJP parties unite, then they can get rid of those who are working to destroy the country, Kumar said at a rally organised by the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) in Haryana to mark former deputy prime minister Devi Lal’s birth anniversary.

INLD leader Om Prakash Chautala, Shiromani Akali Dal’s Sukhbir Singh Badal, both with a long history of fighting the Congress, were on the stage with other senior leaders such as NCP’s Sharad Pawar, CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury and Arvind Sawant of the Shiv Sena.

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav was also on the stage in what was seen as a step towards unity among non-BJP parties.

However, no one from the Congress attended the rally.