“I am addressing the press after a long time. I am fully fit now...” said RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, the last speaker at the media briefing held after the mega opposition meeting in Patna on Friday.
If Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the host of the meeting, spoke at the beginning of the press conference, Lalu had the last word. It was only apt because the meeting also marked the return of the veteran leader to the centre stage of politics in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
Lalu had been ailing for a long time. He underwent a kidney transplant a few months back. Now, he finds himself at the centre of the discussions amongst the opposition parties to mount a joint fight against the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.
Lalu and his son, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, are credited with playing a crucial role in making the meeting of opposition parties possible. The importance of the 75-year-old leader was evident as opposition leaders made it a point to call on him when they arrived in Patna for the meeting.
Nitish is learnt to have convened the meeting in close consultation with Lalu. The RJD supremo attended the meeting, the first time he participated in an event of this nature after his kidney transplant. He declared that he is fit and is ready to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP.
Lalu is expected to continue playing an important role in the opposition discussions as the parties work out issues such as state-level seat adjustments and at the same time, at the national level, seek to come across as a unified force against the BJP.
In the meeting, Lalu is learnt to have stressed the need for the Congress to be largehearted in the negotiations that start here on. He is also learnt to have said that there was no need to get into seat-sharing formulas right away, and the first meeting should set the tone for the coming discussions by emphasising on the common ground that already exists.