A day after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar called for a "main front" of all non-BJP parties to take on the ruling alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls after meeting several opposition party leaders in Delhi, poll strategist Prashant Kishor said meeting opposition leaders in the national capital does not mean one's political stature is rising on a national level.
Kumar has been meeting opposition leaders since September 5. He met met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI general secretary D. Raja, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, INLD chief O.P. Chautala, SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, NCP's Sharad Pawar and CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya. The Janata Dal (United) leader had said he had a very positive discussions with them and expressed the hope that they will gradually veer towards having a structured programme and agenda.
Kishor pointed out that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao met many opposition leaders in Delhi.
"Bihar's political developments are specific to state only. I don't think it will affect national politics at all. If one is meeting people in Delhi, that doesn't mean one's stature is rising on a national level," news agency ANI quoted Kishor as saying.
Kishor sought to know what is new in such meetings. “What is new in it? How can we consider that something new is being done by the opposition? I don't think it will bring a dramatic change pertaining to 2024 elections,” he said.
While fielding a question on the possibility of a non-BJP and non-Congress "third front", which was experimented with in the past, Kumar had said "If a front has to be made, it will be the main front, not the third front. "An understanding between the Congress, the Left, parties with socialist background and others will be in national interest. If all non-BJP parties in various states come together, then a good atmosphere will emerge in the country."
Kishor had joined the JD(U) in 2018 but was expelled in 2020 due to sharp differences with Kumar over their conflicting views on a host of issues.
