Mamata Meets Nitish, Tejashvi In Kolkata, Says 'I Want BJP To Be Reduced To Zero'

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee met her Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav in a bid to unite the opposition ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

New Delhi: In a bid to unite the opposition parties ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday met her Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav in Kolkata. After the closed-door meeting of the three leaders, Mamata said that she wants the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to be reduced to 'zero'. Speaking to the media, she said that she wants to 'give a message' that we are all 'united'.

"We will go ahead together. We have no personal ego, we want to work together collectively," Mamata Banerjee said that the joint press conference with Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief also said that she has made just one request to Nitish Kumar, that an all-party meeting should be convened in Bihar. 

"I want the BJP to be reduced to zero. They have become a big hero with the media's support and lies," she added.

At the presser, Nitish described his meeting with Mamata at the state secretariat 'Nabanna' as a 'positive' one.

"It was a very positive discussion... Opposition parties need to sit together and strategise," he said.

The JD(U) leader also hit out at the BJP and said that they are just doing their own publicity.

"Those who are ruling now have nothing to do. They are just doing their own publicity. Nothing is being done for the nation's development," he said.

In the last few months, Mamata Banerjee has had an array of meetings with a number of non-BJP and non-Congress leaders on the issue of opposition unity against the saffron party in the 2024 General elections.

Earlier last month, she met Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, during which the two leaders agreed to maintain a distance with Congress and rather focus on the unity of the regional forces against BJP in the 2024 polls.

Soon after meeting Akhilesh, Mamata went to Odisha and met CM Naveen Patnaik.

She then also met former Karnataka CM and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy in Kolkata.

Last week, the TMC supremo also called up her counterpart in Tamil Nadu MK Stalin, and discussed the unity of opposition forces against the role of Governors in the opposition-ruled state in the country.

In the recent past, Banerjee, in all her public meetings, stressed that if the opposition gets united before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, then it is possible to bring an end to the BJP-led regime. However, she has always avoided the tricky issue of whether Congress is a part of her blueprint of a united opposition against the BJP.

Earlier this month, Nitish had also met Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi. He had also held a meeting with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, and left party leaders D Raja and Sitaram Yechury to discuss opposition unity.