Nitish Kumar meets Mamata Banerjee, as Opposition stands divided

Kolkata: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday met with his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee to push for a grand alliance to take on the ruling BJP in the next parliamentary polls.

Nitish Kumar was accompanied by his deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav for a brief meeting at the West Bengal state secretariat, NDTV reported.

The Bihar chief minister previously met with Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal as part of gaining the support of AAP.

The grand alliance that Nitish Kumar envisages to form ahead of the Lok Sabha polls is still in its nascent stage, given the differing stands of the Opposition parties.

Major regional parties including Trinamool and Samajwadi Party are averse to sharing space with the Congress, which could impede Opposition’s grand idea for a political bulwark against the BJP.

Akhilesh Yadav is not keen on including the Congress in a grand alliance against the BJP.

However, Yadav previously had met with leaders of Opposition parties, including Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Mamata Banerjee is not in for throwing her weight behind the Congress, which is expressly evident in her questioning the leadership of Rahul Gandhi earlier.

However, the Opposition parties briefly came together in condemning Rahul Gandhi's disqualification as a Lok Sabha MP, signaling at the possibility of their greater unity.

Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party boss Arvind Kejriwal earlier said it was ‘extremely necessary’ for the entire opposition and the country to come together to change the government at the Centre.