Nitish-Sonia meet gives rise to speculation on Presidential candidate

NEW DELHI: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar met Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her 10 Janpath residence on Thursday. While both Congress and JDU maintained that it was a “courtesy call” by Kumar, the 15-minute meeting triggered speculation that the duo discussed the ongoing efforts of the opposition parties to broaden their anti-BJP unity and explore the possibility of fielding a joint candidate in the presidential elections.

“Nitish ji was in Delhi and he had a courtesy meeting with Sonia ji, especially since he had not met her since her return after a health check-up recently. It was a cordial meeting, but no particular political issues were discussed. There was also no discussion between the two about the upcoming presidential elections,” JDU general secretary KC Tyagi said.

However, Tyagi added it was the view of Kumar-led JDU that there should be a larger unity of opposition parties against BJP and that there should be a joint opposition candidate for the post of President, and Sonia Gandhi can take the initiative as the leader of the largest opposition party.


Incidentally, the Sonia-Nitish meeting also took place against the backdrop of some uneasiness in the Congress circles about JDU deciding to contest Gujarat elections in separate alliance with NCP.