“Trying to bring together all the opposition parties of the country,” Nitish Kumar said (File)
New Delhi:
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav will meet Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday amid talks on opposition unity.
The Bihar chief minister on Sunday met his Delhi counterpart amid a row over the Centre’s ordinance regarding ‘control of services’ in the national capital.
Immediately after the meeting, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav addressed the media.
Speaking on the issue, the Bihar CM said, “How can the powers given to an elected government be taken away? It is against the Constitution. We stand with Arvind Kejriwal.”
Nitish Kumar said, “We will hold meetings in future as well, we are trying to bring all the opposition parties of the country together.”
The CM of Delhi said, ‘Today in a meeting with Nitish ji, he said that he stands with the people of Delhi on the issue of bringing an ordinance by the Center, rejecting the order of the Supreme Court in favor of Delhi.’
“If the Center brings this ordinance as a bill, it can be defeated in the Rajya Sabha if all non-BJP parties come together. If it happens, it could send a message that the BJP government is out in 2024.” Will go.” Arvind Kejriwal added.
Targeting the BJP government, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said, ‘BJP is troubling non-BJP governments. The central government is doing injustice to Arvind Kejriwal. We stand with them. Discrimination is not fair. We will not allow this to happen. It happens,” he said.
According to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the AAP national convener will also meet former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on May 24 and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar on May 25 to garner support against the Centre’s move.
The central government on Friday brought an ordinance to notify rules for the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) with regard to ‘transfer postings, vigilance and other relevant matters’.
The ordinance has been brought to amend the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 and override the Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Center Vs Delhi.
Meanwhile, the Bihar Chief Minister also attended the swearing-in ceremony of the new Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Bengaluru after the Congress party’s resounding victory in the state.
After the results, Nitish Kumar had told reporters, “Efforts are being made to unite the opposition as it will be in the interest of the entire country.”
Nitish Kumar had said, “They (Congress) had a massive victory (in Karnataka). If opposition parties come together, it will be in the interest of the country, efforts are on for that.”
Nitish Kumar is meeting opposition leaders to “consolidate the bloc” against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Nitish Kumar had captured the national imagination with his pitch for a “united opposition” that he believes can take on and defeat the BJP in next year’s Lok Sabha elections.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
