A mega gathering of leaders of Opposition parties in Patna and a roadmap to form an alliance of non-BJP parties were among a host of things discussed during a meeting between Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge. Rahul Gandhi, Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal and JD(U) chief Lalan Singh were also present during the meeting.
Kumar, who has been meeting Opposition leaders ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election, met Kharge and Gandhi at the Congress chief's 10, Rajaji Marg residence.
After the meeting, KC Venugopal and Lalan Singh said the date and place of the meeting of the Opposition leaders would be announced in a "day or two". A vast number of parties will be taking part in the meeting, Venugopal said.
In a tweet, Kharge said, "The country will be united now. The strength of democracy is our message. Rahul Gandhi and myself discussed the current political situation with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today and took forward the process of giving a new direction to the country."
Earlier this month, Kumar had hinted that he was planning a meeting of opposition leaders in Patna after the Karnataka Assembly election was over and issues related to forging an alliance of like-mined parties would be discussed at length there.
The meeting comes a day after Kumar met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and extended "complete support" to him in the AAP's ongoing face-off with the Centre over the control of administrative services.
The meeting was the second between Kumar and Kejriwal in over a month. Kumar had earlier met Kejriwal in Delhi on April 12.
Kejriwal, singed by the Centre seizing back the control over bureaucracy by introducing an ordinance, said he would meet leaders of various parties to drum up support over the issue.
"If the bill is defeated in Rajya Sabha, it will send out a message that the BJP will lose the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It will be the semi-final of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls," Kejriwal had said.
Recently, in a show of strength, Nitish Kumar and several Opposition leaders like Tejashwi Yadav, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah attended the swearing-in ceremony of Siddaramaiah as the Karnataka chief minister.