Nitish rejects speculation he is unhappy with opposition conclave

BIHAR — Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday denied reports that he was dissatisfied with the opposition conclave held in Bengaluru for not being made the convenor of the newly formed alliance and that he was not happy with its acronym INDIA.

Talking to reporters after inaugurating a month-long Malmas Mela’ here, Kumar claimed that the BJP will be wiped out in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

“The meeting was very fruitful and we all are very happy with the outcome. I could not attend the press conference after the conclave as I had to come back to Patna. My effort is to unite all opposition parties ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and now things are taking shape,” the JD(U) leader said.

Soon after the conclave attended by 26 parties across the country, BJP leader Sushil Modi had claimed that Kumar returned to Patna without attending the press meet as he was “upset” over not being made the convenor of the alliance.

Kumar asked, “Who takes Sushil Modi seriously?”

The de facto leader of the JD(U) reiterated that he does not have any ambition for himself.

“We are working to unify all non-BJP parties ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The Patna opposition meeting was attended by 16 parties and there were 26 parties in Bengaluru. Our numbers are increasing and the unity of the opposition parties is getting strengthened,” he said.

Setting the tone for their 2024 Lok Sabha campaign, 26 non-BJP parties on Tuesday formed the coalition – Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) – to unitedly take on the ruling NDA.

Earlier in the day, JD(U) president Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lalan’ described as “dushprachar” (canard) of the NDA reports of Kumar being unhappy with the acronym ‘INDIA’ and going into a sulk over not being made convener of the new coalition.

The name INDIA bore the stamp of approval from all leaders present at the opposition conclave, said Lalan who accompanied Kumar on the trip to Bengaluru.

He also asserted that selecting the convenor was not on the agenda of Tuesday’s meeting.

“It may be thought about when the next meeting takes place in Mumbai… Nitish Kumar is the sutradhar (driving force) of opposition unity. And a sutradhar never gets angry,” Lalan said in Patna.

Lalan added, “I remember a speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mumbai where he had repeatedly urged people to vote for India. Now, the time has come that people will, indeed vote for INDIA and Modi shall have to make way in deference to public sentiment”.

He also claimed that the NDA meeting called by the PM in Delhi on Wednesday was indicative of “desperation”.

“This is the first time since Modi has come to power, that an NDA meeting has been called. I can say that as a Lok Sabha member whose party had been a part of the NDA”, said the JD(U) president, whose party quit the BJP-led coalition a year ago.

He also mocked the BJP’s claim that more than 30 parties were now part of the NDA, saying “over a dozen such political outfits are from the north-east. The entire region accounts for only 23 Lok Sabha seats”.

Asked about the PM’s jibe at many opposition leaders facing charges of corruption, Lalan said: “he should revisit his own past observations. Whom did he lash out at upon return from Maharashtra and where are those people today”.

The allusion was to Modi’s speech in Bhopal where he had accused NCP chief Sharad Pawar, among others, of nepotism and corruption.

While Pawar is in the opposition camp, his nephew Ajit Pawar recently broke away and became the Deputy CM of the BJP-led government in Maharashtra. The splinter group includes some others who have been either named in corruption cases or accused of graft by the BJP in the past.