Bihar CM Nitish Kumar in Delhi to meet Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and several non-BJP leaders

PATNA: Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday reached Delhi and met RJD chief Lalu Prasad. He is likely to meet Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and other non-BJP leaders in a bid to forge opposition unity against the saffron party for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Nitish, accompanied with JD(U) president Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh and water resources minister Sanjay Jha met Lalu for the first time after the RJD chief's successful kidney transplant in Singapore."Honourable chief minister Nitish Kumar met Lalu Prasad and enquired about his health. They also discussed the current socio-political situation," RJD tweeted on Tuesday. Incidentally, the meeting took place on a day Nitish's deputy and Lalu's son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money-laundering case linked to the alleged land-for-jobs scam case.
A senior RJD leader, who was present at the meeting, said the duo discussed in detail the strategy to bring all the scattered opposition forces under one umbrella so as to give a concerted fight to the BJP in the 2024 polls.
"The issue is not who should be the Prime Minister but to provide an effective alternative to the country and we are working seriously towards it," he said, adding they had not contested the 2004 polls without any PM face yet the UPA won elections.
"We all want to come under Congress' umbrella, but the parties in strong positions in their respective states must be in the driving seat there," the RJD leader asserted.
Sources said during his three-day stay in Delhi, Nitish will meet several opposition leaders.
Today was the third visit of Nitish to Delhi for opposition unity for which he has been working for the past seven months. Earlier on September 5, he had met scores of opposition leaders such as Congress's Rahul Gandhi, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and D Raja, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and SP chief Akhilesh Singh in Delhi.
Nitish again visited Delhi on September 26 during which he, accompanied with Lalu, met Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. The meeting took place shortly after a section of senior opposition leaders joined a rally organised by INLD to celebrate Devi Lal's birth anniversary in which Congress reportedly was not invited.