Chirag Paswan jibes Nitish Kumar's Oppn unity bid; 'Bihar CM can't even build a bridge'

Chirag Paswan, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief and Member of Parliament, took a jibe at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's endeavour to unify the Opposition parties in preparation for the forthcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Paswan drew attention to the recent incident involving the collapse of the under-construction Bhagalpur bridge in Bihar to criticise Kumar's leadership abilities. In light of this infrastructure failure, Paswan highlighted the irony of a Chief Minister who is unable to successfully construct a bridge, yet seeks to foster unity among the diverse factions within the Opposition.

Speaking to reporters, Chirag Paswan on Thursday said, "The Bihar CM who can’t even build a bridge is trying to form a bridge between Opposition parties. This bridge of Opposition unity will collapse the same way as their under-construction bridge (Bhagalpur bridge) collapsed. Whatever has happened to their bridge, the same will happen to their so-called Opposition unity."

Opposition comes together only for clicking pictures: Chirag Paswan

Taking a jibe at the Opposition, the LJP (Ram Vilas) leader said, "The opposition can only come together for clicking pictures. It’s happening since 2014. We have seen Opposition leaders standing together for pictures, but when elections arrive, their unity collapse. This will again collapse in the same way."

In a scathing attack on Opposition leaders, he claimed about the personal ambitions of certain Chief Ministers vying for the post of Prime Minister. "There are many Chief Ministers who are in the race for the post of Prime Minister. The personal ambitions of these CMs are so strong that they would never accept someone else's leadership," Paswan said.

He further said that Nitish Kumar's leadership would not be accepted by either the Opposition leaders or the people of the country. "Nobody will be going to accept the leadership of Nitish Kumar, not even the Opposition leaders or the People of the country," he said.

Nitish pitching for Opposition unity, calls for meeting on June 23

The highly anticipated gathering of Opposition parties, initially scheduled to be led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on June 12 in Patna, has been postponed to June 23. Janata Dal (United) announced that prominent leaders of the Opposition parties including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will be present at this crucial gathering in Patna.

With the aim of bringing together the disparate array of Opposition parties ahead of the approaching 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Nitish Kumar has been actively reaching out to influential Opposition leaders. A significant step in this endeavour is slated to occur on June 23, when a highly anticipated meeting of Opposition leaders is scheduled to take place under his leadership