"All Ready, Will Talk To Each Other": Nitish Kumar On Opposition Unity Push

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, tasked with bringing together Opposition parties that have no love lost for the Congress to forge a grand alliance against the BJP, today said that he has spoken to all parties and "they are ready". Mr Kumar said he still needs to speak to some parties, and they will all "talk to each other".

"Very soon, most parties will come together. I have spoken to Congress party leaders in detail, and everyone has agreed. We are now doing it (uniting against the BJP) will everyone's agreement. I spoke to the CPI too yesterday... This is my mission, that all parties sit together and decide what to do (for the 2024 look Sabha elections," he said while addressing JD(U) workers.

The renewed attempt at Opposition unity, after NCP boss Sharad Pawar in an interview with NDTV exposed the fault lines in the alliance, picked pace with the meeting between Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, and Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday.

Sources say that Nitish Kumar has agreed to speak to parties who remain equidistant from the BJP and the Congress. He has already met with Arvind Kejriwal. "I am completely with him. It is extremely necessary that the entire opposition and the country come together and change the government at the Centre," Mr Kejriwal said after the meeting.

He may meet K Chandrashekar Rao of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi and Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress -- Congress is their direct rival in Bengal and Telangana respectively -- soon.

Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United (JDU) has proposed what they call the "Nitish formula" of opposition unity, sources say.

"The only way to win against Narendra Modi is to follow a one-against-one policy in 2024, which means one seat, one candidate from the opposition against the BJP candidate," said senior Janata Dal-United leader KC Tyagi.

Nitish Kumar's deputy Tejashwi Yadav has been given the responsibility of talking to Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, who is his family friend and relative.

The BJP has responded to this new formation with scepticism.