The Janata Dal (United) (JDU) meeting of office bearers and key national executives commenced in Delhi today, with the participation of state presidents and office bearers. The walls of the JDU office were adorned with posters, with Nitish Kumar as the prime ministerial candidate in the Lok Sabha Elections 2024. The posters read, ‘Leader in state, now will be leader in country’.
The wishful thinking from the JDU office is not new. Earlier, too, JDU leaders have projected Nitish Kumar as the PM face of the country from the alliance, and this demand is continuously growing, putting a lot of pressure on the Opposition bloc.
The entrance of the JDU office has two posters of Nitish Kumar being projected as PM. Inside, several posters with Nitish Kumar’s single picture have been placed, from the parking lot to the meeting office.
Nitish Kumar is JDU’s leader of the country. Notably, Nitish Kumar earlier conveyed his national ambition to the I.N.D.I. Alliance during the first meeting of the Alliance in Bihar. At this meeting, Nitish had invited all Opposition leaders, uniting them under one umbrella.
The demand for Nitish as PM first picked up from that meeting and later the same was voiced by JDU leaders in Patna and Delhi.
Apparently, the latest meeting of the Opposition saw an upset Nitish Kumar, when Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s name was suggested by Mamta Banerjee as National Convenor of the I.N.D.I. bloc for 2024.
Miffed, Nitish Kumar left the meeting in between, adding fuel to the fire of him being upset. His intention of becoming National Convenor was ignored by the INDI bloc.
Moreover, Nitish also was upset with Lallan Singh, as the latter never conveyed Nitish’s national ambition to leaders of the Opposition bloc. This was confirmed by a senior leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) who spoke to Republic on the condition of anonymity.
Never was any word communicated by Lallan Singh that Nitish Kumar wanted to be the PM face of JDU or the National Convenor for the I.N.D.I. Alliance. He stated that Nitish Kumar’s national aspirations are known by all but it was never prominently conveyed.
Shailendra Kumar, JDU Delhi President on Nitish Kumar’s PM aspirations
Republic spoke to Shailendra Kumar, JDU Delhi President, on Nitish Kumar’s PM aspirations. He said, “We are demanding that our leader should become PM. He is the only one who could give tough competition to PM (Narendra) Modi and the entire BJP if we want to save the nation. We have been making this demand since 2021. Now the entire JDU is upset with Mallikarjun Kharge’s name being suggested by Mamta Banerjee for National Convenor.”
“Why didn’t the Opposition discuss it amongst themselves? This is injustice to Nitish Kumar. He is a leader who has national recognition; everyone knows our leader outside Bihar. However, how many people know Mallikarjun Kharge?” he questioned.
“In our two-day meeting, we will discuss how to raise the voice for our leader to be projected as the PM face. Our senior leaders can discuss this with other Opposition parties. Us being the karyakartas of our party, we can put pressure through taking this in the public domain. The Congress has no ground in Bihar. They should not be given major seats in Bihar. They can only win one or two seats and that too, with the support of JDU,” Shailendra Kumar added.
“After January 14, we will put up more posters of our leader Nitish Kumar in Bihar, Delhi and other cities for pitching him as PM face of the Opposition,” he revealed.
