Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar, and Tejaswi Yadav arrived in Kolkata to meet Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal. The three leaders met behind closed doors to plan their strategy for taking on the BJP in the elections of 2024. The chief minister Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav headed to the state secretariat “Nabanna” after arriving at the airport.
Given their prior affiliations with the Congress party, the de-facto leader of the JDU might find it challenging to persuade both leaders. While Sudip Bandyopadhyay, a senior TMC MP, indicated that the Trinamool Congress would go its own way and maintain distance from both the Congress and the BJP, Akhilesh Yadav stated that SP would maintain equal distance from both the Congress and the BJP.
Nitish Kumar to meet Mamata Banerjee
Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar will meet with his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata today.The meeting follows his trip to the national capital to meet with Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge and former MP Rahul Gandhi. The conference was considered as a crucial step towards setting the framework for a large Opposition alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year. After the meeting, Rahul told reporters that it was a “historic step” towards Opposition unity and a “ideological fight.”Rahul, who uploaded a photo of himself with Kharge and leaders of the JDU and RJD, stated that they are “standing together, will fight together for India.”
“A historic step towards Opposition unity has been taken today in this ideological battle.” (We’re) standing together, fighting together – for India!” Rahul Gandhi stated in a tweet following his meeting with Nitish Kumar.The meeting was attended by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and Janata Dal-United president Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh.
CM Mamata Banerjee is also making no effort to close ranks with other parties ahead of the 2024 elections, having met with Samajwadi Party chairman Akhilesh Yadav at her residence in Kolkata last month.