Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav to meet Rahul Gandhi, Kharge

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav are set to meet Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior party leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday to carry forward discussions on a tactical understanding between the Opposition parties ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Over the last month, the Janata Dal (United) leader has met several other Opposition leaders, including Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik. He has also held discussions with Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray, Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar, Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren and Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and D Raja—all will be looking to take on the ruling party in the upcoming general elections.

Kumar is set to meet the Congress leaders a day after his meeting with Kejriwal on Sunday. The Bihar chief minister is said to have extended his "complete support" to his Delhi counterpart in the AAP government's ongoing tussle with the Centre over the control of administrative services.

Kumar and Yadav last met Kharge and Gandhi on April 12, at Kharge's residence in Delhi. After the meeting, Kumar told the media, "We will reach out to as many political parties and move forward together."

Gandhi said, "This is a battle of ideologies and it is a historic step towards the 2024 fight."

Kumar, on several instances, has been saying that he is hoping for the Congress to take the initiative of getting the Opposition together. He has expressed in the past that he is keen on the Opposition fielding one common candidate against the BJP in as many seats as possible to prevent splitting the vote bank.

Several Opposition parties have severally argued against certain recent moves by the Centre—such as the promulgation of an ordinance that contradicts the Supreme Court order handing over the control of the Services—excluding those related to police, public order and land—to the elected government in Delhi; or the recent disqualification of Gandhi as a Lok Sabha MP.

Meanwhile, Kumar and Tejashwi were also present at the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka's chief minister Siddaramaiah and deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar at the Shree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on May 20.

Boosted by the victory in Karnataka, Congress is now getting ready to roll out its campaign in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana, the next states going to the polls.