Nitish Kumar insists he is not a contender for the prime minister's post. (File photo)
A day after a grand opposition rally in Telangana, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said he only had a single wish and that has nothing to do with himself.
"I keep saying. I want nothing for myself. I only have one dream - to see opposition leaders unite and forge ahead. That will benefit the country," Nitish Kumar told reporters.
The Bihar Chief Minister's comments come a day after prominent opposition leaders addressed a joint rally in Khammam in Telangana on Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's invitation. Asked about his own absence at the event, Nitish Kumar said: "I didn't know about a rally being held by KCR (Chandrasekhar Rao). I was busy with some other work. Those who were invited to his party's rally must have gone there."
Leaders like Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s Arvind Kejriwal and Left leaders Pinarayi Vijayan and D Raja joined the rally. The Congress, currently focused on the last few days of Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra, was also missing.
In what was seen as the first major step towards a non-Congress opposition front ahead of the 2024 national election, the opposition leaders found common ground in targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP.
This was Telangana Chief Minister Rao's first big public meeting after his Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) went national as the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). KCR is seen by many as an aspirant for the prime minister's post. So is Nitish Kumar, though he insists he is not a contender.
Mr Rao, at the rally, tore into PM Modi's policies and said he would "go home" after the 2024 election.
"I am directly telling Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji. Your policy is privatisation. Our policy is nationalization," he said.
Akhilesh Yadav, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, referred to the Prime Minister's comment that only 400 days are left for the 2024 election. "The BJP has started 'counting its days' and it will not last a day more in power after its present term," he said.