Nitish, Tejashwi to sit with Uddhav and Sharad Pawar in separate meetings on May 11

In the build up to the Opposition unity, Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal (United)’s supreme leader Nitish Kumar, and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal will visit Mumbai on Thursday to meet Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray over lunch and have tea with NCP supremo Sharad Pawar.

Nitish and his delegation will visit Matoshree at Bandra, the bungalow of the Thackerays and Silver Oak, the bungalow of Pawar.

Senior leaders of Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP will welcome the delegation.

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As far as Opposition unity is concerned, Pawar had created the Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising NCP, Shiv Sena and Congress, and anointed Thackeray as its head. However, the Thackeray government was toppled by the BJP fuelling rebellion in the Shiv Sena.

Nitish is expected to invite them to participate in the Opposition meeting to be held in Patna on May 17 or 18, after the Karnataka Assembly election results.

According to JD (U) MLC Kapil Patil, Nitish and Tejashwi would be accompanied by JD (U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh, Bihar Legislative Council chairperson Deveshchandra Thakur, and Bihar minister Sanjay Kumar Jha.

Nitish's Mumbai visit comes on a day when the Supreme Court decides on the June-2022 split in the Shiv Sena and the toppling of Thackeray’s government.

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Nitish has taken up the initiative to forge Opposition alliance ain the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections - and over the past fortnight has met Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and former Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in Delhi, besides Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and Left party leaders - CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPI general secretary D Raja.

Nitish has also met West Bengal chief minister and TMC supremo Mamta Banerjee and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Odisha chief minister and Biju Janata Dal supremo and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav as a part of similar efforts.