Congress Moves To Woo 'Upset' Nitish Kumar; Kharge Holds Meeting With Bihar CM, Lalu Yadav

New Delhi: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar may be appointed as the coordinator of the opposition parties’ I.N.D.I.A alliance. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday held an important virtual meeting with CM Nitish Kumar and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav. Sources said that discussions on seat-sharing were held during the meeting. On the other hand, sources are claiming that JDU president Nitish Kumar will soon be announced as the coordinator. Along with this, Congress president Kharge may be appointed as the chairman of the coalition.

What Does Congress Want? 

Sources have said that at a time when Rahul Gandhi is set to embark on a ‘Bharat Justice Yatra’ from Manipur to Mumbai for two months from January 14, the Congress party does not want any kind of deadlock in the alliance. In such a situation, the initiative has been taken by the Congress itself to make Nitish the coordinator. Due to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections being very close, the Congress party wants everything to be fine in the alliance.

Speculations are being made that Nitish Kumar is angry and is planning to return to the NDA. Such discussions have made the Congress restless. This is the reason why after the Delhi meeting of the opposition leaders, Rahul Gandhi himself had spoken to Nitish Kumar on the phone. The biggest reason for making Nitish the coordinator is that he himself had taken the initiative to form an anti-BJP front in the 2024 elections. It is being said that the other parties of the alliance have also been taken into confidence. Sources claim that all the leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal, have agreed on the name of Nitish Kumar.

Focus Shifts On Seat Sharing

Nitish Kumar had already said emphatically that the seat-sharing process should be completed by January. After that, all the parties will be able to agree on a common minimum program.

No Unity Without Nitish As The Anchor? 

In this way, it seems that JDU’s strategy of pressure politics in national politics is successful. There was talk of making Nitish the coordinator in the first meeting of the alliance in Patna, but it was not announced in Delhi either. Now again, news of consensus on his name has come. In the Delhi meeting, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had proposed the name of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as the prime ministerial candidate, which had angered the JDU.

Even after refusing, the JDU played pressure politics. Nitish took the command of the party in his hands and gave a big message. Now RJD also seems to be in favor of making Nitish the coordinator. RJD spokesperson Manoj Jha says that RJD wants Nitish Kumar to become the coordinator of ‘India’.

Some time ago, JDU’s national spokesperson KC Tyagi had said that nothing has been said by the Congress on this issue, but we will welcome any such step. Making Nitish Kumar the coordinator is a good idea because he has played an important role in bringing parties of different colors and sizes on one platform. There is no doubt that Nitish has been the biggest anchor of the India coalition.

It will not be easy to keep all the parties together after Nitish’s anger. Meanwhile, BJP leader Sushil Modi has said that the post of coordinator in the INDIA bloc is like a clerk and Nitish Kumar is bargaining for it by showing the fear of going with the BJP. He said that after all the possibilities of being made the prime ministerial candidate were over, now they want to save their prestige by getting the lollipop of the coordinator post.

On the other hand, election strategist Prashant Kishor believes that JDU has no importance in national politics. Who is asking JDU and this is like being a self-praising parrot. He said that the politics of the opposition is, the biggest party is Congress, whether it wins or loses is a different matter. The second is TMC and the third is DMK. Who is asking JDU.