More than happy if Pawar becomes face of opposition: Nitish

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar met with NCP President Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray to invite them to a meeting in Patna to unite opposition parties ahead of the 2024 general elections. The meeting is expected to take place by the end of the month and most opposition leaders have been invited. Both Pawar and Thackeray have expressed support for a national coalition against the BJP. Nitish Kumar has been meeting with opposition leaders to build a consensus for the Lok Sabha elections.

Strap: Bihar CM, Tejaswi meet NCP chief, Thackeray, invite them to Patna meeting

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MUMBAI: Amid talks of opposition unity ahead of the general elections 2024, Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar on Thursday called on Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray. He invited both the leaders to a meeting to be held in Patna, for which he has also invited most of the opposition leaders.

The date of the meeting is yet to be decided but it is expected to be held by the end of this month. Both Thackeray and Pawar have favoured the formation of a national coalition against the BJP.

Kumar was accompanied by deputy chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejaswi Yadav. Both the leaders first met Thackeray at his residence ‘Matoshree’ in Bandra and later reached ‘Silver Oak’, Pawar’s residence at Peddar Road.

“You will come to know the details when it happens,” Kumar said, confirming about the meeting planned in Patna. “We want to bring maximum opposition parties together and will decide when we all will hold a joint meeting,” he added.

Kumar has been meeting most of the opposition leaders in the last one month to build a consensus over bringing all the opposition parties together in the Lok Sabha elections. He had met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi last month. On Tuesday, he met Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar and is likely to meet a few more in the coming days.

On Thursday, Kumar said that they are trying to build a coalition of maximum opposition parties and eventually, it will happen. Kumar also said he would be more than happy to see Pawar becoming the face of the opposition.

“I will be more than happy if he (Pawar) becomes the opposition’s face. I told him today (about the same). We all felt bad when he resigned (from the post of NCP national president). Now when he is back, I told him you will have to work strongly not only for your party but also for the country,” the Bihar chief minister told reporters in response to a question.

Pawar was quick to add that they have decided to work together as of now. “We are not going into who will be the face of opposition. What we know is that the people want all of us together,” remarked the veteran leader.

Earlier, both Pawar and Kumar slammed the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre and said that there is a need to unite the opposition considering the impending danger to democracy in the country. The duo has agreed to attend the meeting in Patna.

“The country needs a viable alternative, and we can see that if we work together then it will get support from the people,” Pawar said adding that going by their information, Karnataka people are removing the BJP and bringing a secular government.

“This will not be limited to Karnataka, the situation is similar in major parts of the country but to achieve success we all will have to work together,” Pawar stressed.

Kumar said, “Those ruling at the Centre are doing nothing for the country except renaming places and trying to change history. It would be in the interest of the country that there should not be any differences among communities. There should not be discrimination over caste and religion such as Hindu and Muslim.”