New Delhi: On his third day of visit to the national capital, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar will meet President Drupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, sources told ABP News. Later, the Bihar CM will also meet Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar here, sources said.
In an attempt to forge unity, Kumar has been meeting with leaders of several Opposition parties here. Earlier on Tuesday he met Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI General Secretary D. Raja, Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal, former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and Samajwadi Party Patron Mulayam Singh Yadav and SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav at Medanta Hospital.
On his first day of the visit to the city, the JDU leader met Congress senior leader Rahul Gandhi and Janata Dal (Secular) leader H D Kumaraswamy. His visit comes for the first time after he severed ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA government in Bihar.
Kumar’s move to snap ties with the BJP and reuniting with Mahagathnbandhan — an alliance between the JDU, Congress, and Rashtriya Janata Dal — has been viewed as his ambition for the post of Prime Minister in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The speculations were fanned by his meetings with the Opposition leaders.
The JDU chief however cleared the air on the matter on Tuesday saying that he was neither a claimant nor desirous of the post.
“This is wrong. I am not a claimant for the post, nor am I desirous of it,” he said.
Kumar’s visit comes just days after his Telangana counterpart and Telangana Rashtra Samiti supremo K Chandrashekhar Rao visited Bihar and held discussions on the political scenario of the country.
However, during KCR’s one-day visit, he avoided giving a direct response to a question about whether Nitish Kumar will run as the opposition’s candidate for Prime Minister, saying that the opposition parties would meet and make that decision.
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Kumar has maintained that any opposition alliance against the BJP must include the Congress and the Left, a contention that is not fully shared by the AAP, Mamata Banerjee’s TMC and K Chandrashekar Rao’s TRS.
Though he has constantly tried to play down the buzz about his prime ministerial bid, there has been a clamour within his party that Kumar is the most appropriate candidate to take on the mantle of the opposition leadership due to his vast experience and clean image.
(With input from agencies)