PATNA: Apparently kicking off his mission to unite Opposition parties, chief minister Nitish Kumar is set to meet Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow on Monday.
Confirming Kumar’s scheduled meeting with Yadav, a senior leader of Mahagathbandhan (MGB) in Bihar said that Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav is likely to accompany Kumar on his visit to Lucknow. “From there, the CM will go to Kolkata and meet Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee the next day,” said the MGB leader.
Talking to media persons, the CM had last week said that he would soon embark on the nationwide campaign to unite the forces opposed to the BJP. “You will all know once I went out,” said CM on the sidelines of an official event in Patna.
Though it was widely believed that Kumar would begin his parleys with regional party leaders to muster their support for a united front against the BJP next month, the CM revised his plans after former Uttarakhand CM and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat called on him in Patna on Wednesday and had a prolonged discussion with him. After the meeting, Rawat had said that there must be political talks once the two leaders met.
The MGB leader said that Kumar is also likely to call on his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik in the first week of May.
