Cracks in the Opposition? Nitish Kumar to ditch Tuesday's meeting

July 10, 2017 08:41

Nitish Kumar has given the Opposition a new case of the jitters by deciding not to attend a meeting of 17 parties on Tuesday in Delhi.

Allowing himself an alibi, the chief minister of Bihar has instead called all his party leaders including national and state lawmakers to a conclave in Patna.

In April, it was he who, along with his ally Lalu Yadav, suggested to Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi that she create a sprawling anti-BJP front. The frost test of its sustainability ahead of the 2019 national election would be putting up a joint candidate for President of India.

Last month, the JD-U chief gave the Opposition a huge blow when he announced that his party would, in fact, support the BJP nominee. He offered two factors in his defence: that the Opposition was at that time still undecided about who it would field; and that the BJP's choice, Ram Nath Kovind, was a Governor of Bihar, making his candidate an honour for the state that he would not stymie.

The meeting on Tuesday in Delhi, to be chaired by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, is intended to shortlist the likely nominee for Vice President who will be chosen next month (after the presidential election is completed on July 17).

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