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Nitish Kumar downplays KCR rally, calls it a party meeting
Amid speculations that the Bihar CM was not invited to the rally hosted by K Chandrashekar Rao at Khammam in Telangana on Wednesday, Nitish Kumar said he was busy with some engagements in the state and did not know about KCR’s rally
Patna: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who has been calling for the unity of opposition parties ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, on Thursday downplayed the mega rally organised by his Telangana counterpart K Chandrashekar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) that brought together several prominent opposition leaders, calling it a “party meeting”.
Amid speculations that the Bihar CM was not invited to the rally hosted by Rao at Khammam in Telangana on Wednesday, Kumar said he was busy with some engagements in the state and did not know about KCR’s rally.
“I didn’t know about a rally being held by KCR (Telangana CM). I was busy with some other work. Those who were invited to his party’s rally must have gone there,” Kumar told reporters on Thursday. “It was a rally of the party and some people were invited.”
The Bihar chief minister is currently undertaking “Samadhan Yatra” (solution rally) in different districts of the state to take stock of development works.
On Wednesday, KCR hosted the mega rally, a first since he renamed his Telangana Rashtra Samithi as Bharat Rashtra Samithi last year, which experts believe indicated his national ambitions. Besides KCR, as the Telangana chief minister is popularly called, the rally at Khammam was also attended by his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, and Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary D Raja.
However, neither Nitish Kumar nor his deputy and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav attended the rally even after the two had hosted KCR in August last year and discussed at length on opposition unity.
“Did he not come here recently,” Kumar said, adding that the meeting organised by KCR was not a dampener for opposition unity.
During his visit to Patna in August last year, KCR while responding to a question on Kumar being a potential challenger to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2024, had said: “Nitishji is one of the best and most senior leaders in the country. I am not the one to make a decision. It will be decided when all opposition parties sit together.”
KCR’s rally was seen as the first major step towards a “non-Congress” opposition front ahead of the 2024 general election. Congress is a junior partner in the Kumar-led Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar. Kumar has been meeting opposition leaders ever since his party severed ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last year.
“Let me make it clear again, I do not want anything for myself. But I am of the view that more and more opposition parties should come together in national interest,” Kumar said.
Calling the KCR rally a “setback” for the Bihar CM, senior BJP leader Tarkishore Prasad said it shattered Kumar’s dreams of becoming the Prime Minister. “His dream was shattered when Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao did not even think it fit to invite Nitish Kumar to his mega rally organised to unite the opposition,” said Prasad.
He added that ever since Congress projected Rahul Gandhi as PM candidate and Kumar was open to accepting it, other opposition parties want to form a third front.
