With just a year left for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday expedited his efforts to unite Opposition parties and called on his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata, and former Uttar Pradesh CM and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow.
Sources said the leaders discussed the one-seat-one-candidate “Nitish Formula”, to which Mamata said, “If thought, vision, and mission are clear, there will be no issues.” “Nitish Formula” aims to bring in Congress in the united Opposition front in order to prevent a split in the Opposition vote against Modi’s juggernaut.
Both Akhilesh and Mamata had last month announced that they will not align with the Congress.
The Opposition unity bid is Nitish’s second effort in less than a fortnight — he had called on Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Left party leaders D Raja and Sitaram Yechury during his visit to Delhi early this month.
On both the occasions, Nitish was accompanied by RJD leader and Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav.
While Mamata said there has to be “no ego clash” in the Opposition front, Nitish has been making extra efforts to convince parties such TMC, SP, BRS, which have been working for a non-BJP-non-Congress front, to bring the Congress in the united Opposition camp. Addressing a press conference along with Nitish and Tejashwi, Mamata said, “There is no question of ego or anything. We have to work collectively with everyone.”
Nitish had clearly taken a swipe by stating there is only one front soon after Telangana CM and BRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao had called him in Patna last year after Mahagathbandhan government came into effect in Bihar.
“I have made just one request to Nitish Kumar. Jayaprakash (Narayan) ji’s movement started from Bihar. If we have an all-party meeting in Bihar, we can then decide where we have to go next,” Mamata mentioned.
After meeting with Akhilesh, Nitish said, “I Don’t have lust for power and position. My endeavour is to work for the country’s good”. An ambitious Nitish is eyeing to be the consensus Prime Ministerial Opposition candidate, however he has rejected the speculation.
While details of the SP leaders meeting were yet to be known much, sources said a broader perspective on consensus to forge a formidable Opposition was discussed.
Sources said that in the run up to the change of guard in Bihar, Nitish had to convince RJD supremo Lalu Prasad to take the Congress on board for a larger national perspective. Lalu was then reluctant to take the grand old party as alliance partner in Bihar due to Congress’ arm flexing habits.
“Nitish has now taken the lead after he was shared with the present thought process of Congress during the meeting with Kharge and Rahul Gandhi. Rahul is believed to have conveyed that Congress will never think to be in the running for PM race even if the party gets 99 Lok Sabha seats, precisely less than 100 in 2024. So a seasoned leader like Nitish is toiling hard for the much needed purpose to dethrone Modi, who is after all Opposition leaders using his band of agencies like CBI, ED, IT etc,” a top Congress Parliamentarian confided to The Pioneer.
