Nitish Kumar met Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata last month.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's recent support for the Congress after months of fierce attacks was spurred by a meeting with her Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar, a senior leader of his Janata Dal-United (JD-U) party has said.
KC Tyagi has told NDTV that it was Mr Kumar who pitched the "One-On-One" strategy to Ms Banerjee which she later espoused, saying that strong regional parties should be left alone to take on the BJP in 2024 on their home turfs and in turn, they would back the Congress in the 200-odd seats where the two national parties are in direct contest.
"Mamata Banerjee has given up the intention of forming a non-Congress third front before the 2024 elections. She said this in her meeting with Nitish Kumar. When Nitish Kumar met Mamata Banerjee, she appeared positive about forming a united opposition front," he said.
"Earlier, her opinion was different. She wanted to form a non-Congress third front. Now she agrees with Nitish Kumar's formula that opposition parties should pitch 'one-against-one' candidates against the BJP," Mr Tyagi said.
"Mamata Banerjee had said that a meeting of opposition leaders should be called in Patna. Bihar was a symbol of change in the centre when JP's (Jayaprakash Narayan) movement started. Mamata Banerjee's idea of forming a non-Congress third front regarding KCR and Arvind Kejriwal has changed," he said.
"Nitish Kumar's formula of opposition unity, in which we propose to field one candidate against a BJP candidate, is now accepted by more people," the JD-U leader said.
Days after the Congress scored a decisive win against the BJP in Karnataka, Mamata Banerjee had announced that she was abandoning her plans of going alone in the 2024 elections and proposed a working solution for the opposition parties to resolve differences, in a plan that included the Congress.
The Trinamool chief was among opposition leaders who were against the idea of the Congress playing a central role in a proposed alliance against the BJP for the 2024 polls, even as efforts to stitch a cogent front spluttered.
"Wherever regional parties are strong, the BJP cannot fight. The Karnataka verdict is a verdict against the BJP. People are antagonised. Atrocities are happening. The economy is ruined. Democratic rights are being bulldozed," Ms Banerjee said.
"Whoever is strong in some place, in their region, they should fight together. Let's take Bengal. In Bengal, we (Trinamool) should fight. In Delhi, AAP should fight. In Bihar, Nitish ji (Nitish Kumar), Tejashwi (Yadav) and Congress are together. They will decide. I cannot decide on their formula. In Chennai, they (MK Stalin's DMK and the Congress) have a friendship and they can fight together. In Jharkhand also, they (JMM-Congress) are together and in other states also. So, it is their choice," she said.
"The strong party must be given priority. And wherever Congress is strong in their 200 seats or something, what we have calculated, let them fight and we will support them... This is for everybody. If you want some good thing, then you have to sacrifice yourself also in some areas," Ms Banerjee said.