Thursday's visit by Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar, and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav to Mumbai will include meetings with Sharad Pawar, the president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Uddhav Thackeray, the leader of the Shiv Sena (UBT). The couple will visit Thackeray's bungalow and afterwards meet Pawar at his home.
Nitish Kumar, the leader of the Janata Dal (United), has been meeting with opposition figures to strengthen the group's opposition to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in advance of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. On Tuesday in Bhubaneswar, he spoke with Naveen Patnaik, his colleague from Odisha.
According to JD (U) MLC Kapil Patil, Kumar and Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) leader Yadav would have lunch at Uddhav Thackeray's Bandra neighborhood home Matoshree. In the evening, he continued, they would meet Pawar at his “Silver Oak” home in south Mumbai.
Kumar had captivated the public imagination with his appeal for a “united opposition” which, he thinks, can take on and defeat the BJP in next year's Lok Sabha elections. The JD(U) supreme leader is visiting Mumbai at a time when the western state is experiencing political unrest. Last year, he shocked the BJP when he severed relations and ousted it from power.
On Monday, Pawar said that he and Kumar will meet when Kumar travels to Mumbai on May 11. “According to our assessment, the nation needs a government that is not the BJP. Those who desire to contribute to it, be it Nitish or Mamata (West Bengal CM and Trinamool Congress leader), in my opinion we all need to work together for the same,” the NCP chief had said.
