Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar Thursday said he would be “more than happy” if Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar becomes the face of the coalition of parties he is trying to put together to challenge the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 parliamentary elections.
The Janata Dal United leader, who snapped ties with his long-time ally BJP last year, was speaking to reporters in Mumbai, where he called on Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and invited them to Patna for a meeting of various leaders, whose date is yet to be decided.
Both Thackeray and Pawar have favoured formation of a national coalition against the BJP and agreed to attend the meeting in Patna.
Kumar was accompanied by Bihar’s deputy chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav. Both the leaders first met Thackeray at his “Matoshree” residence in Bandra and later reached “Silver Oak”, Pawar’s residence on Peddar Road.
After his meeting with Pawar, Kumar said he would be more than happy to see the NCP chief becoming the face of the opposition to challenge BJP. “I will be more than happy if he (Sharad 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.
{{/usCountry}}After his meeting with Pawar, Kumar said he would be more than happy to see the NCP chief becoming the face of the opposition to challenge BJP. “I will be more than happy if he (Sharad 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.
{{/usCountry}}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,” said the political stalwart, who has served as a union minister with key portfolios as well as Maharashtra chief minister during his decades-long political career.
Confirming about the meeting planned in Patna, Kumar said, “You will come to know the details when it happens.”
The Bihar CM has been meeting leaders of various political parties for several months now. He had met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi last month. On Tuesday, he had met Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar and is likely to meet a few more in the coming days.
After their meeting, Pawar and Kumar also slammed the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre.
“The country needs a viable alternative. If we work together, it will get support from the people,” Pawar, a former defence minister, said, adding that as 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,” he said.
Kumar said, “Those ruling at the Centre are doing nothing for the country except renaming places and trying to change the 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.”