Nitish Kumar meets Mulayam Singh Yadav in his effort for opposition unity ahead of 2024

At the meeting with Mulayam Singh Yadav, his son Akhilesh escorted  Kumar. Mulayam Singh Yadav is in hospital for age-related ailments.

The JDU leader also met former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal and fellow Bihar leader Sharad Yadav, who was once president of the JDU.

Earlier in the day, Kumar met CPM's Sitaram Yechury in Delhi. On Monday, he met Congress's Rahul Gandhi and AAP's Arvind Kejriwal.

Emerging out of these meetings, Kumar had told reporters that he has no ambition for the top post.

"There is a concerted effort to weaken regional parties. My effort is to unite the Opposition ahead of the General Elections. I have no intention of pitching myself as a prime ministerial candidate," Kumar told reporters.

The Yadavs-Mulayam Singh, Lalu Prasad and Sharad- were once together with Nitish Kumar and OP Chautala under the wider Lok Dal-Janata Dal umbrella, before parting ways in the 1990s.

OP Chautala's father, former deputy PM Devi Lal, was among the chief architects of that formation.

Since then, they have emerged as regional forces.

With the Congress weakened now, an alliance of regional parties is being seen as a means to unseat the BJP.