'Will Be Main Front, Not Third Front': Nitish Kumar Urges Oppn Parties To Come Together

Bihar CM also pitched for all opposition parties to come together and said it will be 'main front', not the third front.

In a bid to bring opposition parties on a common platform to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar and said that leader of their alliance for the 2024 polls can be decided later. Bihar CM also pitched for all opposition parties to come together and said it will be 'main front', not the third front.

According to reports, Nitish held deliberations with Pawar on the broad contours of the opposition alliance in 2024 general elections and also met CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya. After his meeting with the NCP chief, Nitish said that it is important to come together first. 

"Both Pawar and I are keen to unite opposition forces who are not with the BJP. A leader of the alliance can be decided later. It is important to come together first," Kumar told reporters. 

"I have met all the people in Delhi and many of them thanked me for coming out of the NDA. Everyone wishes that there should be unity in every state and such an atmosphere will be created in the country in the coming days," Bihar CM told reporters after meeting Bhattacharyya in the national capital.

The Janata Dal United (JDU) leader also said that he will meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi once she is back from abroad. "If needed, we (opposition leaders) will meet again. Everyone's attitude was positive. We want to be the main front, not the third front. I will continue this work of uniting opposition," he said.

Alleging that the BJP is not doing anything for the people, Nitish said that the time was ripe to present an alternative to the saffron party. 

Nitish, who was in Delhi for a three-day visit, met several prominent leaders of the Opposition parties including Rahul Gandhi, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal, CPIM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI General Secretary D Raja, INLD supremo OP Chautala and Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.

"Everyone realises that those who have the power in their hands, they are creating damage everywhere in the country," Nitish said after his marathon meeting with Opposition leaders.

(With inputs from PTI.)