Nitish, Tejashwi Meet Uddhav To Forge Opposition Unity, Meeting With Sharad Pawar Next

Nitish Kumar has been meeting Opposition leaders to strengthen the bloc against the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Mumbai: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav on Thursday met Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's residence 'Matoshree'  in Mumbai. The meeting is being seen as a bid by the Bihar CM to strengthen the Opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Janata Dal (United) supreme leader Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal's Tejashwi Yadav will also meet Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar in the evening at his 'Silver Oak' residence.

"Those who are at the Centre are not working for the country. All political parties in the country need to unite to work together," Bihar CM and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar said during his meeting with Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai.

#WATCH | Uddhav Thackeray speaks on the Supreme Court decision stating that then Maharashtra Governor BS Koshyari's decision for the Floor test was wrong and that the court cannot restore his government as he had resigned and had not faced the Floor test pic.twitter.com/Jl7KqvqYsW

— ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2023

Making his first public reaction after the Supreme Court's verdict in last year's Shiv Sena-centric political crisis in Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray said that his successor Eknath Shinde should resign as he did. Uddhav's reaction came shortly after the SC held that the then Maharashtra Governor - Bhagat Singh Koshyari - was not justified in calling upon Uddhav Thackeray to prove a majority in the Assembly on June 30 last year. The top court, however, said that it cannot restore the then Uddhav government as he resigned without facing the floor test. "Eknath Shinde won after murdering democracy. He should resign as Chief Minister like I did," Uddhav Thackeray told a press conference after the SC verdict.

Bihar CM Kumar has been meeting Opposition leaders to strengthen the bloc against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Lok Sabha polls due next year. 

The JDU leader is also reportedly planning to hold a big meeting of all top Opposition Leaders in Delhi on May 18. Earlier on Wednesday, Nitish Kumar met with his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren in Ranchi. After the meeting, both held a joint press conference at the Jharkhand Chief Minister’s residence.

Addressing a press conference, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said that discussions on various issues were held with Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren. “Discussed various issues with Chief Minister Hemant Soren and agreed that we will work unitedly for the benefit of the country,” said Kumar.

“You’ll see the results in the next Lok Sabha elections when we work unitedly…The country’s history will remain intact, the country will progress and we will not allow any disputes in the country,” he added.

The Janata Dal-United leader met his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday in Bhubaneswar. Kumar, who stunned the BJP last year when he snapped ties and stripped it of power, 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.