We have to be alert, prepared for possible early Lok Sabha polls, says Nitish Kumar

Mumbai : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a key figure in the anti-BJP bloc, on Friday said the 2024 Lok Sabha elections are likely to be advanced and called upon opposition parties to be alert.

Speaking at a press conference organised after the two-day conclave of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) in Mumbai, Kumar expressed confidence the newly formed opposition bloc will defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) whenever elections are held. "The BJP wants to change the country's history.

Our aim is to strengthen the country and ensure welfare of all sections of society. We are moving expeditiously. Elections (to Lok Sabha) can be held early and we have to be alert," said the JD(U) leader. Kumar said the possibility of early parliamentary elections, otherwise due in April-May 2024, was discussed in the meeting.

"The deliberations during the meeting was that people at the Centre will now have to go. We will be together and not allow history to be changed," said the Bihar CM, targeting the BJP. Kumar's comments on early polls came in the wake of the Centre setting up a committee to study the feasibility of "one nation, one election", a move which invited criticism from opposition leaders who said such a mechanism would pose a threat to the federal structure of the country.

Opposition parties have alleged the formation of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), which held its two-day conclave in Mumbai on Thursday and Friday, has rattled the ruling BJP which caused the government to set up the committee under former president Ram Nath Kovind to explore the possibility of holding assembly and national elections simultaneously. Earlier ,Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge called the government's move a "diversion and distraction".