Bihar CM Nitish Kumar meets Akhilesh, Mamata to forge opposition unity

Ramping up efforts to forge Opposition unity, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday met Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and said work is on to bring together as many parties as possible to remove the BJP from power in the next general elections.

No welfare work is being done by the present dispensation which is only relying on publicity, the JD(U) leader said attacking the BJP after meeting Yadav at the SP office here, hours after he held talks with his West Bengal counterpart and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata.

"I am not looking for any position for myself. My endeavour is to work for country's good," Kumar, who was accompanied by RJD leader and Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav, told reporters.

He alleged that efforts are being made to change the history of the country.

Akhilesh Yadav raised the issue of price rise and said there was a need to remove the BJP government without any delay.

The Bihar chief minister had come to Lucknow after meeting Banerjee in Kolkata earlier in the day.

The two regional satraps too stressed the need to "prepare together" for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

"It was a very positive discussion... Opposition parties need to sit together and strategise," said Kumar after the meeting at the state secretariat Nabanna in Kolkata.

The BJP dubbed the meeting a "futile exercise" and asserted that such an "opportunistic alliance" would not yield any result.

Banerjee said, "We have to give the message that we are all together."

While details of the discussion were scanty with the leaders preferring to speak on the broader consensus, sources said the two sides used the meeting to figure out how they would proceed in sewing together a workable coalition.

"Nothing is being done for India's development, those ruling are only interested in their own advertisement," claimed Kumar.

I have made just one request to Nitish Kumar. Jayaprakash ji's movement started from Bihar. If we have an all-party meeting in Bihar, we can then decide where we have to go next. I want BJP to become zero. They have become a big hero with the media's support and lies, Banerjee said.