Nitish Kumar Avoids Media After Bengaluru Meet As Opposition Parties Deferred To Appoint Convener Of Alliance

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, along with his deputy Tejashwi Yadav and RJD president Lalu Prasad, returned to the state capital after attending the two-day second opposition parties' meeting in Bengaluru.

However, they avoided the media and refrained from giving any statements at the Jai Prakash Narayan International (JPNI) airport in Patna.

Despite a gathering of journalists eagerly waiting for their comments on the opposition meeting, the trio quickly entered the chief minister's car and proceeded to their respective residences without stopping for media interactions, despite repeated requests from journalists.

Previously, Nitish Kumar used to address the media outside the airport after his meetings with opposition leaders in Delhi and other cities, as part of his efforts to unite non-NDA parties against the BJP in preparation for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

It should be noted that Nitish Kumar was expecting to be a convener of the alliance but the opposition parties have deferred the appointment until the next meeting in Mumbai next month.

Moreover, during the joint press conference in Bengaluru, all three leaders were notably absent. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge attributed their absence to the need to catch a flight.

However, political analysts pointed out that Nitish, Lalu, and Tejashwi had traveled to Bengaluru on a chartered plane, giving them the opportunity to attend the press conference by adjusting their return time.

This act of skipping the joint press briefing brought to mind a similar incident involving AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who had also opted out of the opposition leaders' press briefing in Patna earlier.

Kejriwal's party had subsequently issued a statement stating that they would not be part of any alliance with the Congress until the latter publicly denounced the Centre's ordinance on control of administrative officers in the Delhi government.

In response to the absence of Nitish Kumar and others at the joint press briefing, BJP's Rajya Sabha member and former Deputy CM, Sushil Kumar Modi, speculated that Nitish might be discontented due to not being appointed as the convener of the opposition parties.

Earlier too, Nitish Kumar had to face embarrassment in Bengaluru when posters emerged calling him "the unstable Prime Ministerial contender" and mocking him for the Sultanpur bridge collapse.