Playing down all reports of him being not included in the 'united Opposition front', Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday gave the real reason for his not attending Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) public rally. A clarion call for regime change at the Centre by dislodging the BJP in 2024 Lok Sabha polls was sounded by prominent opposition leaders in the first mega rally of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao-led BRS on Wednesday.
While Aam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal, Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav, CPI's D Raja, and Marxist party's top leader Pinarayi Vijayan were among the leaders who took part, the absence of JDU president Nitish Kumar had raised eyebrows.
However, clearing all the air, Nitish Kumar on Thursday said engagements in the state would not have allowed him to attend the meeting of opposition leaders hosted by his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhara Rao "even if I were invited". "I don't know about that meeting…..I am very busy right now, I would not have been able to go even if I were invited", said the CM who has been insisting that his hands were full with the 'Samadhan Yatra' and the budget session of the assembly which will commence next month.
The JD(U) leader, however, refused to see the Hyderabad event as a precursor to formation of an alternative non-Congress, non-BJP front and reiterated that it would be "in national interest" if all non-NDA parties come together.
'Should not be seen as a new grouping'
"It appears to me the meeting was held as part of a party (BRS) event. Those invited there attended. This should not be seen as a new grouping", asserted Kumar.
He, however, appeared to be of the view that doors were still open for an alignment with the Telangana strongman who has renamed his Telangana Rashtra Samithi as Bharat Rashtra Samithi in what is being seen as an indication of national ambitions.
"Did he not come here recently", said Kumar, referring to the visit of Rao, popularly known as KCR, to the Bihar capital shortly after the BJP was stripped of power and the 'Mahagathbandhan' formed a new government. KCR had met Kumar as well as Lalu Prasad, the president of the RJD which helms the seven-party ruling coalition in Bihar.
He also seemed to disagree with the notion that the meeting at Hyderabad, which was attended by leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party and the Left, was a dampener for what he has termed as a "main front" that would challenge the BJP's hegemony in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
(With PTI inputs)
