Nitish-KCR, Sharad Pawar renew pitch for united Opposition ahead of 2024 battle, but will these efforts pay off?

After dumping the BJP to rejoin the Mahagathbandhan fold, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had denied being a contender for prime ministerial post, but had called for a united opposition to take on the BJP. 

Turning his call into action ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Kumar, along with his deputy Tejashwi Yadav, met his Telangana counterpart K Chandrashekhar Rao on Wednesday. 

Sharing the stage with KCR, Kumar lashed out at the Narendra Modi government in the Centre and criticised its “excessive prachaar-prasaar” (publicity) besides its alleged lack of sensitivity towards the needs of the states. 

“Your adversaries speak a lot against you. Little do they realize what stuff you are made of. You were the one whose single-minded struggle led to the creation of Telangana. The people will never desert you,” Kumar, the de facto leader of the JD(U), said.

His teaming with 'KCR', as Rao is popularly called, is being seen as an important step in the direction of achieving opposition unity. It also comes as a veiled dig at the BJP which has undertaken an aggressive campaign to expand its base in the southern state. 

Kumar's speech was preceded by KCR giving cheques of Rs 10 lakh each to five soldiers from the state who were killed in the stand-off with Chinese troops in Galwan valley of Ladakh in 2020.

The Telangana CM, who heads Telangana Rastra Samiti, also gave away cheques of Rs five lakh each to family members of 12 migrant labourers from Bihar who died in a fire in Hyderabad in March.

Meanwhile, NCP chief Sharad Pawar also renewed the pitch for unity for the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

Interacting with reporters in New Delhi after welcoming leaders from Haryana into the party fold, Pawar said the NCP was open to contesting polls as part of an opposition alliance under a common minimum programme to take on the BJP.

Pawar also asked the opposition parties to keep aside differences and unite on an anti-BJP platform for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Earlier, he had said efforts were underway at the national level to bring non-BJP parties together to create a public opinion.

At the same time, the NCP supremo had made it clear that he was not keen on taking up any responsibility due to his age.

Experts believe that more than his concern over BJP's muscle-flexing in Bihar and his differences with the Centre over a range of issues, it was Kumar's national ambitions that led him to quit the NDA and made himself pitch against Narendra Modi. 

However, what also needs to be noted that several attempts made by regional satraps like Mamata Banerjee, KCR and Sharad Pawar have met a dead end in the past, after being roadblocked by their national ambitions. Experts are also of the view that a splintered opposition only ends up aidng the BJP, with the anti-BJP votes not getting consolidated.