Nitish Kumar to meet Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar in Mumbai on May 11

Nitish Kumar was travelling to Odisha on May 9 to meet Naveen Patnaik and to Mumbai on May 11 to meet Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar

PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who is scheduled to fly to Bhubaneswar to meet his counterpart, Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday, will also travel to Maharashtra later this week to meet opposition leaders. Nitish Kumar’s May 11 visit to Maharashtra is a follow-up to his phone conversation on May 6 with Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, people familiar with the matter said.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar during his visit to Kolkata to meet West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee as part of his outreach to opposition leaders on April 24) (PTI File)

A leader of Bihar’s Janata Dal-United (JD-U) said Nitish Kumar was travelling to Odisha on May 9 and Mumbai on May 11 to meet opposition leaders. On Monday, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, according to news agency PTI, confirmed Kumar’s plans to travel to Mumbai for meetings.

“I have received a message that Nitish Kumar will visit Mumbai on May 11. We will meet, though I do not have all the details with me,” Pawar, who on Friday revoked his decision to quit as NCP chief, told reporters in Solapur before heading to Karnataka’s Nipani area to campaign for his party candidate in the assembly elections on May 10.

“Our outlook is that an alternative (to the BJP government) is needed in the country. Those who wish to contribute to it, be it Nitish or Mamata (West Bengal CM and Trinamool Congress leader), in my view we all need to work together for the same,” the NCP chief said.

Last week, Bihar legislative council chairman Devesh Chandra Thakur was in Mumbai and held a meeting with Uddhav Thackeray along with MLC Kapil Patil.

Nitish Kumar, who has indicated his interest in hosting a meeting of opposition leaders after the Karnataka elections, is scheduled to leave for Bhubaneshwar on Tuesday to meet his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik. The meeting between the two leaders is scheduled at 12 noon and is likely to last 30 minutes. “The two leaders will discuss a wide range of political issues as well as the road ahead to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” said a JD (U) leader familiar with the development.

The meeting assumes significance as the BJD has for years been equidistant from the BJP and the Congress. “It has neither indicated a tilt towards the NDA nor has it spoken anything on the formation of a non-BJP alliance so far,” said a JD (U) leader.

Kumar met prominent opposition leaders in Delhi in April, including those from the Congress and Left parties, and announced his plan to travel to different states in an effort to unite opposition parties. Last month, he travelled to Kolkata to meet West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and to Lucknow to meet Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav.

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