Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav will meet Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray during their Mumbai visit on Thursday, as per a JD (U) MLC. This comes as the Janata Dal (United) leader has been meeting Opposition leaders to strengthen the bloc against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. He met his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday in Bhubaneswar and then met his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren in Ranchi on Wednesday and discussed a host of issues.
The duo will visit Thackeray's residence and later meet Pawar at his home. Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD)'s Tejashwi Yadav will have lunch at Matoshree, the private residence of Uddhav Thackeray in suburban Bandra, said JD (U) MLC Kapil Patil, as per news agency PTI.
They will meet Pawar at his south Mumbai residence 'Silver Oak' in the evening, he added.
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Bihar CM Nitish Kumar had caught the national imagination with his pitch for a “united opposition” which, he believes, can take on and defeat the BJP in next year's Lok Sabha polls.
The JD(U) supreme leader, who shocked the BJP last year when he severed ties and stripped the saffron party of power, is coming to Mumbai at a time when the western state is witnessing political turbulence.
Pawar on Monday said he and Nitish Kumar will meet when the latter visits Mumbai on May 11.
"Our outlook is that an alternative (to the BJP government) is needed in the country. Those who wish to contribute to it, be it Nitish or Mamata (West Bengal CM and Trinamool Congress leader), in my view we all need to work together for the same,” the NCP chief said, as quoted by PTI.