JD (U)’s Nitish Kumar to Meet BJD’s Naveen Patnaik to Try for Opposition Unity

Bhubaneswar: As part of his efforts to unite the opposition parties ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is expected to reach Bhubaneswar on Tuesday to meet Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik.

From Bhubaneswar, Nitish Kumar will travel to Mumbai to meet leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, including NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena-UBT chief and former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on May 11.

According to JD-U national President Lalan Singh, the Bihar CM Nitish Kumar held telephonic talks with these three leaders regarding the meetings.

“Nitish Kumar has telephonic conversations with Naveen Patnaik, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and former CM Uddhav Thackeray. The movement of opposition unity is speeding up now. CM Nitish Kumar will go to Odisha on May 9 and Maharashtra on May 11. He will give them invitations for the meeting of opposition parties leaders ahead of the Lok Sabha poll 2024,” Singh said.

But it is interesting to note that the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD is maintaining equal distance from the BJP and the Congress. In the past BJD has however helped the BJP government in passing several Bills in the Parliament.

Nitish is meeting his counterparts in various parties to form an anti-BJP alliance for the 2024 elections. He has already met Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Communist leaders Sitaram Yechury and D Raja.

Accompanied by Bihar Deputy CM and RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, the JD (U) chief held meetings with the West Bengal CM and Trinamool Congress (TMC) head Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata and Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow.