MUMBAI: Janata Dal (U) chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will arrive in Mumbai on Thursday morning as part of his Opposition unity efforts.
Nitish Kumar will meet and hold meetings with top Maharashtra leaders including Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray over lunch at ‘Matoshri’ in Bandra, before meeting Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar over tea at the latter’s ‘Silver Oaks’ home in south Mumbai.
Nitish Kumar has taken the lead to unite all smaller and secular alliance parties against the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. As a part of it, he has been cementing ties and ironing out the differences with the Opposition.
Kapil Patil, MLC and general secretary of JD (U) said that their leader Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has been receiving overwhelming support from the Opposition parties against the BJP.
He said in 1977, all non-Congress parties came together against the Congress to protest and anger against the emergency and to save democracy, In the same way, the Opposition needs to unite today against the BJP if they want to save the constitution.
“The constitutional federal structure has been disturbed. The central government is ushering all power while weakening the respective state government and non-BJP-ruled states are deprived of the central government-allotted funds. Besides, the central agencies and institutions are to target the Opposition and remain in power. So, all smaller and bigger parties of the Opposition have to come together against the BJP in 2024. Otherwise, the 2024 Lok Sabha elections will be the last elections in India,” Patil said.
He added Nitish Kumar has got huge and rich political and administrative experience and there are no stains in his political career.
Patil added that the Bihar CM is the man that can unite everyone and Congress will also be the main stakeholder.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar earlier extended support to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar saying if someone is taking an effort, then as an Opposition, they have to extend all possible support. “We as NCP are with Nitish Kumar,” Pawar added.
Interestingly, Bihar CM Eknath Shinde earlier met Odisha Chief Minister Navin Patnaik, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi party leader Akhilesh Yadav.