Mumbai: A day after polling for the Karnataka Assembly elections, Janata Dal (U) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will arrive here May 11 as part of his efforts to forge a united national Opposition front. Nitish Kumar will meet two former CMs here. They are Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray.
Pawar confirmed the development Monday. He said he had received a message to the effect, setting the ball rolling in this state for talks with the main non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) opposition parties, here.
“I have received a message that Nitish Kumar will come May 11 to Mumbai. We will meet though I do not have the full details with me. Our view is that an alternative is needed in the country,” Pawar said in Solapur.
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Kumar’s trip comes barely a week after the Bihar Legislative Council chairman Devesh Chandra Thakur met Thackeray at his residence, ‘Matoshri’, along with JD (U) national Secretary Kapil Patil, a Maharashtra MLC.
Pawar added that for all those who wish to contribute to the opposition unity efforts, whether Nitish Kumar or West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, it was imperative to work together in that direction.
Pawar is a four-time ex-CM of Maharashtra and three-time central minister, while Thackeray was toppled as the Maha Vikas Aghadi CM 11 months ago in June 2022 during his maiden tenure after a rebellion in his party led by Eknath Shinde, who later became the CM with BJP support.
It was Pawar, along with other Congress and Sena-UBT leaders who fashioned the MVA alliance that kept the BJP at bay after the 2019 Assembly polls which threw up a Hung Assembly.
Patil had earlier said that as part of the opposition unity moves, Nitish Kumar will organise a grand rally of all parties soon after the Karnataka Assembly polls results are declared.