New Delhi: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav, accompanied by Rahul Gandhi, met Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday to discuss forming a united opposition front against the BJP. The meeting took place at Kharge's residence amidst talks of opposition parties coming together to defeat the BJP in next year's Lok Sabha elections.
Kharge described the meeting as historic and stated that it was decided to unite all parties to fight upcoming polls together. Rahul Gandhi said that the process of unifying the parties has begun, and the opposition's vision will be developed together.
"We will take all parties along in this ideological battle. We will fight together against the attack on institutions and the country and will take an important step in this regard," Gandhi said.
Nitish Kumar added that they would try to unite more opposition parties and that they would continue their efforts in this regard.
In a tweet in Hindi, Kharge stated, "We will preserve the Constitution and save democracy. Rahul Gandhi ji and we met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ji, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav ji, and other leaders. We reiterated our resolve to raise the voice of the people together and give a new direction to the country."
The leaders also had lunch together at Kharge's residence, where JDU president Lalan Singh, Bihar Congress chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh, Congress leader Salman Khurshid, and RJD leader Manoj Jha were also present.
The JDU, RJD, and Congress are in a coalition government in Bihar, and the three parties are in talks to bring other opposition parties together on a common platform in their fight against the BJP.
Kumar arrived in Delhi on Tuesday and is expected to meet with other opposition leaders during his stay in the national capital. Tejashwi Yadav is also in Delhi after appearing before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday for questioning in a money laundering case related to the alleged land-for-jobs scam.
Kharge has spoken to several opposition leaders recently in an attempt to forge unity among like-minded parties to take on the BJP. He has reached out to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and may have a meeting with top opposition leaders in the coming weeks.
(With inputs from PTI)
