Bihar JD(U) meeting: Amid a buzz that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar could be the united opposition's prime ministerial candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Janata Dal-United (JDU) is currently holding its national executive meeting in Patna. The meeting is attended by JD(U) office bearers from across the country and would be followed, a day later, by a meeting of the national council, the apex body of the party.
The chief minister visited the Birchand Patel Marg office on Friday to take stock of the preparations for the meeting. "Desh ka neta kaisa ho Nitish Kumar jaisa ho" was the slogan that rent the air, and summed up the sentiment, at the JD(U)'s Bihar headquarters.
Will Nitish Kumar get a "national role"?
Banners put up at the JD(U) office bore slogans that sent across the message loud and clear that the party expected its de facto leader to play a "national role". Although not claiming to be not keen on the top post, Kumar has nonetheless made it clear that he was serious about fostering opposition unity and was telephonically in touch with many anti-BJP players.
"Pradesh mein dikha, desh mein dikhega" (it has been seen in the state, now it will be seen across the country), "aagaz hua, badlaav hoga" (a beginning has been made, change will follow) are a couple of slogans indicative of the buoyancy in the party since Kumar bit the bullet and walked out of the shadow of a domineering BJP.
There were some more, which sought to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership more viscerally. "Jumla nahin, haqeeqat" and "mann ki nahin, kaam ki" tend to get lost in translation though the import was not lost on politically savvy people of the state.
"On the one hand, we have a leadership that offers outlandish promises of ache din (better days), two lakh jobs per year and Rs 15 lakh into every bank account which are later dismissed by the then president of the very party as a jumla (rhetoric). On the other hand, we have Nitish Kumar who has walked the talk, be it on prohibition or on rural electrification," Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, national secretary of the JD(U), told news agency PTI.
Opposition unity on agenda in two-day JD(U) meet
A collective takedown of BJP, price rise, and unemployment are likely to figure prominently in the two-day meeting. Mindful that no major party, except its Bihar ally Rashtriya Janata Dal, has backed such a call so far, the JD(U) is likely to focus on the need for the opposition to unite in its meeting.
JD(U) national general secretary Afaque Ahmed Khan said around 110 party leaders from across the country, including presidents from its 26 state units, will attend the national executive meeting today.
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