Who Will be Oppn Face for 2024? Nitish Kumar Says ‘Important to Come Together First, Leader Can Be…’

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who met several Opposition leaders during his 3-day Delhi visit, on Wednesday called for unity among all non-BJP parties for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and said the face of the “main front” will be decided later.

As part of his efforts to bring Opposition parties together, Kumar met NCP supremo Sharad Pawar CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya today and said the time was ripe to present an alternative to the BJP. “Both Pawar and I are keen to unite opposition forces who are not with the BJP. A leader of the alliance can be decided later. It is important to come together first,” news agency PTI quoted Kumar as saying.

The Bihar CM said he had “very good and long discussions” with several non-BJP leaders in the national capital. “If all non-BJP parties in various states come together, then an atmosphere will emerge for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections where things would not remain one-sided. With whomever I talked to, there were positive discussions,” he said.

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On talks of the third front, Kumar said, “Whenever someone says there is a need to create a third front, I always say let’s make the ‘main front’. Whenever it happens, it will be the main front, not the third front.”

Kumar held deliberations with NCP supremo Sharad Pawar earlier in the day and also met. The Bihar chief minister met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday. He had on Tuesday met CPIM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI general secretary D Raja, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, INLD supremo OP Chautala and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.

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Kumar has been meeting opposition leaders during his three-day visit to the national capital after he walked out of the alliance with the BJP in Bihar and formed a government along with RJD and other parties. He said he would come to Delhi once again to meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who has been travelling abroad for personal reasons.

Kumar’s Delhi visit comes amidst the buzz the Bihar CM may emerge as the Opposition’s prime ministerial face in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Asked about his aspirations to become prime minister, Kumar had said on Tuesday, “This is wrong. I am not a claimant for the post, nor am I desirous of it.”

(With PTI inputs)

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