Nitish Kumar to meet Mamata, Akhilesh in push for Opposition unity

In yet another attempt to unite the opposition ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is expected to meet his West Bengal counterpart and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Monday.

He is likely to hold a closed-door meeting to strategise on fighting the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Nitish Kumar, tasked with bringing together Opposition parties to forge a grand alliance against the BJP, is also likely to have a meeting with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav soon.

Nitish Kumar's Kolkata visit is crucial as Mamata Banerjee has ruling out any alliance with the Congress following the TMC defeat in the Sagardighi by-election.

Mamata described the victory of the Congress at Sagardighi by-elections as "immoral", alleging that the Congress and CPI(M) had entered into an understanding with the BJP to defeat TMC.

Despite Congress and TMC having bitter fights in the past, Nitish is making an effort to take TMC on board by persuading Mamata to have an united opposition to counter the BJP.

In push for opposition alliance, Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in the presence of Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi termed it a "historic step to unite the opposition."

"We will develop the vision of the opposition parties and move forward; we will all stand together for the country," the former Congress President said.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said that they discussed many issues and decided to unite all opposition parties and fight the upcoming elections unitedly.