Neither claimant nor desirous for PM's post, time for united Opp: Nitish Kumar after meeting left leaders

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met left leaders on Tuesday in Delhi on the second day of his maiden visit to the national capital since he broke ties with the BJP, and discussed ways to ensure Opposition unity to challenge the saffron party’s prospects in the 2024 general elections. He also made clear that he is not interested in being the Opposition's prime ministerial candidate.

The Janata Dal (United) chief first met Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, followed by a meeting with General Secretary D Raja at the CPI headquarters.

After the meeting, Kumar said, "I have had a long association with the CPI-M from my younger days. You all have not seen me, but whenever I used to come to Delhi, I used to come to this office. Today we are again all together. Our entire focus is to unite all Left parties, the regional parties, Congress. This will be a big deal if all of us come together."

Meanwhile, putting all speculations to rest over his visit to the capital being a move to claim leadership of the opposition parties, Kumar asserted that he is "neither a claimant for the prime minister's post nor desirous of it."

Welcoming Kumar 'again' at the party office, Yechury said, the leader's decision to return to the Opposition fold and his desire to be part of a fight against the BJP is a "great signal for Indian politics."

"First, the agenda is to unite all parties, not to decide on the PM candidate. When the time comes we will decide the PM candidate and let you all know," he said.

Kumar is also scheduled to meet his Delhi counterpart and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal in the afternoon, and also former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala later in the day.

Kumar, who reached Delhi on Monday, had met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Janata Dal (Secular) chief H D Kumaraswamy.

He is also likely to meet other opposition leaders, including NCP's Sharad Pawar, AAP's Arvind Kejriwal, Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav and INLD's Om Prakash Chautala.

With PTI inputs

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