No ego clash: Mamata; opposition alliance gets stronger

Kolkata: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Monday as they sought to cobble up a coalition of opposition parties, with the two regional satraps stressing on the need to "prepare together" for the next Lok Sabha polls in 2024. The meeting between the two leaders, which was also attended by Bihar's deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, was described as "positive".

Mamata said that there is "no ego clash" regarding a grand alliance of anti-BJP parties and that it's going to be the people vs BJP in next year's general elections.

Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav met Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow on Monday evening.

The Bihar chief minister said that talks in this regard had been very 'positive and encouraging' with Akhilesh Yadav.

The BJP dubbed the meeting a "futile exercise" and asserted that such an "opportunistic alliance" would not yield any result. "It was a very positive discussion... Opposition parties need to sit together and strategise," said Kumar after the meeting in the state secretariat Nabanna. Banerjee came out of the meeting, stating, "We have to give the message that we are all together."

While details of the discussion were scanty with the leaders preferring to speak on the broader consensus, sources said the two sides used the meeting to figure out how they would proceed in sewing together a coalition that would be workable ahead of the elections.

"Nothing is being done for India's development, those ruling are only interested in their own advertisement," claimed Kumar. "I have made just one request to Nitish Kumar. Jayaprakash ji's movement started from Bihar. If we have an all-party meeting in Bihar, we can then decide where we have to go next," said the chief minister. "I want BJP to become zero. They have become a big hero with the media's support and lies", she added. When queried about the involvement of the Congress in the opposition unity, Banerjee said "All parties were involved."

Opposition leaders have been critical of rising unemployment, the falling value of the rupee and rising prices as well as the spending on government advertisements. Banerjee held similar meetings with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik last month. In a bid to unite the opposition parties ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Kumar met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and its president Mallikarjun Kharge in New Delhi earlier this month.

The West Bengal BJP, however, did not attach much importance to the meeting between the chief ministers of West Bengal and Bihar.