Ahead of INDIA meet, posters in Patna call for Nitish Kumar to be made bloc’s PM face

Patna (Bihar) [India]: In an intriguing development ahead of the INDIA bloc meeting on Tuesday, posters featuring Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar were put up in Patna, demanding that he be made the alliance’s Prime Ministerial face.

The posters in support of CM Nitish Kumar read, ” Agar sach mein jeet chahiye toh fir ek Nischay aur ek Nitish chahiye (If victory is the objective, then we need to resolve and Nitish.”

The bloc will come together for its fourth meeting on Tuesday. Seat-sharing for next year’s Lok Sabha elections is likely to figure prominently in the discussions at the huddle, according to sources.

Ahead of the meeting of the Opposition alliance, Aam Aadmi Party leader Atishi on Tuesday, said crucial aspects such as seat-sharing and other issues are likely to figure in the discussions at the huddle.

“At the meeting today, important aspects such as seat sharing and others are likely to be discussed. The AAP and Arvind Kejriwal will make every possible effort to make the (Opposition) alliance a success,” Atishi told ANI on Tuesday.

Seat sharing for the Lok Sabha polls, which are just four months away, is likely to be at the top of the agenda for the next INDIA bloc meeting and will be crucial for the Congress, especially after its poll drubbing in the heartland states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

The inaugural meeting of the combined Opposition was convened in Patna on June 23, at the initiative of Nitish, while the second was hosted in Bengaluru on July 17-18.

The third meeting of the Opposition alliance was organised in Mumbai over two days — on August 31 and September 1.

The alliance, led by the Congress, took shape with the primary objective of mounting a combined challenge to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in next year’s general elections.

At the Mumbai meeting, the partners in the Opposition bloc adopted resolutions to collectively contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections while announcing that seat-sharing arrangements would be finalised as soon as possible through a ‘spirit of give-and-take’.