Patna, Sep 10 (IANS): As Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar returned home from a three-day-long visit to Delhi, his Janata Dal-United welcomed appreciation by a large section of opposition leaders, including his West Bengal counterpart, for seeking to augment unity.

Banerjee, appreciating his initiative, said: "If we have to defeat the BJP in 2024, the opposition parties have to put smaller issues aside and become united." She said "Nitish ji is in Bihar, Akhilesh Yadav is in Uttar Pradesh, Hemant Soren is in Jharkhand, she herself in West Bengal and other leaders of similar ideology become united now, 275 to 280 seats are not far away from them".

Reacting to her statement, Bihar Finance Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary claimed that the visit of his leader Nitish Kumar has a positive impact in all sections.

"His efforts were appreciated everywhere in the country, especially the statement of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was very important. If opposition parties will leave the smaller political compulsions aside, defeating BJP is not a big issue for them," he said.

"The opposition leaders who had meetings with Nitish Kumar during the recent Delhi visit, have shown positive intent. It encourages us. Our leader has already announced that his efforts will continue in future to defeat the BJP," Chaudhary added.