Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) interacted awkwardly on stage during a press conference in Patna on Wednesday.
Videos of the two politicians have gone viral, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), whom the two CMs hope to overthrow, pointing out that the conference was ’embarrassing’ for KCR, and that a ‘united opposition’ was on shaky legs.
During the press conference, KCR was asked by a reporter if he would support Nitish Kumar as a Prime Ministerial candidate for 2024. The Bihar chief minister got up to leave the stage, unwilling to answer the question, while KCR began to answer.
“Aap baithiye na (please sit),” said KCR, as Nitish Kumar replied, “Aap chaliye na (let’s go).” This back-and-forth continued for a while.
KCR then said that the opposition parties have to sit and talk about the PM candidate, as there was no guarantee that people will accept any name he says at that moment. “Please sit, because I am also seated,” he added, after which Kumar also sat down.
“We will make every possible effort to bring together anti-BJP forces,” KCR said. However, Kumar was once again on his feet, urging KCR not to get into this conversation.
The teaming up of Nitish Kumar, leader of the Janata Dal [United] (JDU), and KCR of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is being seen as an important step in the direction of achieving opposition unity.
BJP leaders shared the video on social media and targeted Nitish Kumar, who dumped the party last month and formed a new government with Tejashwi Yadav, Congress, and other opposition parties. While BJP leader Sushil Kumar called it a “meeting of two daydreamers,” national convenor of BJP’s IT cell Amit Malviya said that Kumar was ‘conceited.’
“KCR ji took questions from Media, Nitish ji wanted to avoid question on PM candidate… thats it ! But BJP tweeting is Hilarious, Arre bhai atleast they are not like Modi ji who didn’t do Press Conference in 8Years,” said a TRS social media convenor.
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