Lalu Prasad Yadav, Nitish Kumar meet Sonia Gandhi, discuss Opposition unity

'We both held discussions with Sonia Gandhi. We have to unite and work together for the country's progress', Nitish said

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad met Congress president Sonia Gandhi here on Sunday evening to discuss the contours of Opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The meeting came hours after a section of senior Opposition leaders attended a rally organised by INLD to celebrate late Devi Lal’s birth anniversary where Congress was not invited.

The deliberations between the top leaders assume significance as it is seen as part of an attempt to reconcile differences certain regional parties have with their traditional rival Congress. At INLD’s rally in Fatehabad, Nitish made it clear there is a need for united fight and all non-BJP parties, including Congress, should come together.

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After the meeting with Sonia, Nitish told reporters, “we both held discussions with Sonia Gandhi. We have to unite and work together for the country's progress. They have their party president elections after which she will have meetings.”

Lalu said, “we need to remove the BJP and have to save the country. For that, we all have to come together in the way we removed the BJP in Bihar. We have had talks with Sonia Gandhi. She asked us to meet again after 10-12 days once the Congress gets a new president.”

The leaders decided to hold more meetings in the coming days, especially after the Congress president election is over. “At present, we cannot say where all we will have (alliances). Wait for some days,” Nitish said.

He said all Opposition parties are on the same page in the fight against the BJP and discussion on a concrete plan of action will happen later after the election for the post of Congress president.

Nitish and Lalu have been advocating the need for finalising alliances in states at the earliest as well as reconciling differences between Congress and regional parties as they have common interests in states. They want a national level alliance though leaders like CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury are advocating state-level alliances, citing the post 1996 political situations.

Yechury has been arguing that national level alliance is impractical and only state-level alliances could work, as several parties have competing interests in states. For instance, there could be no alliance between Congress and the Left in Kerala where the BJP is a marginal place.

The CPI(M) leader argues that a national level alliance emerged only after the election and cited the post 1996 scenario.