Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday broke his silence over not being invited to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) rally called by Telangana CM K. Chandrashekar Rao at Khammam.
“If any political party holds a meeting and invites others they attend it. It was his rally and he invited others, I don’t see this as a big issue, let them do it,” Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said.
Kumar also said that he has been pre-occupied with his government’s work in Bihar and wouldn’t have attended the rally even if he was invited to the event.
The Bihar Chief Minister’s assertions came amid reports that the event came as a setback for Nitish Kumar whose party JD(U) has been projecting him as a face for the opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
After breaking away from the NDA in August last year he returned to the grand alliance and formed a government with the support of RJD, congress, and five other political parties including the left in Bihar.
Earlier, he met several political leaders in New Delhi to form a main front to take on the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
On Thursday, when he was asked whether he would accept the offer to join the front that Chandrashekar Rao has been trying to form, Kumar said, “You are aware that I have already spoken to many political parties. Once I am free from my work here, we will see what has to be done regarding the issue”.
He also reiterated that “his intention is to unite opposition parties and move forward in the interest of the country. I have no desire for myself”.
Many national and regional political leaders including Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, former UP CM and Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav, and prominent left leaders like D. Raja and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan attended the rally called by Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao at Khammam on Wednesday.
The JD(U) leaders in Patna said that the party has been against political untouchability among the non-BJP parties. They said that Nitish Kumar wants all like-minded opposition parties like West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s TMC, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik’s BJD, TDP, and others to come on one platform and form a main front ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Sources said that Nitish Kumar might meet prominent opposition leaders in the coming months and invite them to form a front at the national level against the BJP.
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