Leg-up for Nitish outreach after Cong Karnataka victory, grand Oppn meeting likely next month

Former Bihar CM and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) founder Jitan Ram Manjhi on Sunday likened Nitish Kumar’s efforts to unite the Opposition with the “efforts of legendary Jayaprakash Narayan”.

“Just as JP (as Narayan was popularly known) brought together several parties under the banner of the Janata Party in 1977, Nitish Kumar has been trying to make similar efforts to bring together maximum Opposition parties,” Manjhi said on Sunday.

Nitish has so far met Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, former UP CM and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, West Bengal CM and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) chief and former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, and Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren. Last Friday, Nitish also met All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) supremo Badruddin Ajmal.

Nitish Kumar has yet to meet Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin, Andhra Pradesh CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, and Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao since he started his Opposition outreach.

JD(U) MLC and former minister Neeraj Kumar told The Indian Express on Monday, “Bihar has surely presented a model of Opposition unity. We came together with six parties, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress. The Bihar CM has been meeting the top Opposition leaders after AICC (All India Congress Committee) president Mallikarjun Kharge and former AICC head Rahul Gandhi warmed up to the Bihar CM. Against such background, Patna or any other Bihar venue will provide further tempo to Opposition unity.”

Neeraj Kumar said the Congress’s victory in Karnataka had given the Opposition a boost and energised all non-BJP forces. Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav went a step further in his reaction after the Karnataka results on Saturday. “How can the BJP call itself a national party now? They are nowhere in the south, they are not in government in Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, and Jharkhand. They are in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra because of applying crooked methods.”

Sources in the Mahagathbandhan reiterated that the Opposition meeting would take formal shape once the Bihar CM is through with his first round of talks with top non-BJP leaders. “Since it was West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee who first used the analogy of the JP Movement in the context of Patna having the potential to unite the Opposition, her availability, besides the confirmation of top leaders of the Congress and other parties, will be sought. The meeting can take place most likely sometime next month,” said a source close to the Bihar CM.