Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday said the Bharatiya Janata Party will “go below 100 seats” if the Congress listens to him, ANI reported.

At a convention of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation in Patna, Kumar again urged all the Opposition parties to join hands for the 2024 elections to defeat the BJP, which has a majority in the Lok Sabha with more than 300 seats.

“I want you people [Congress] to take a quick decision,” Kumar said at the event where senior Congress leader and former Union minister Salman Khurshid was also present. “If they take my suggestion and fight together, they [BJP] will go below 100 seats, but if they don’t take my suggestion, you know what will happen.”

The Janata Dal (United) chief stressed that the Congress must make use of the momentum gained during Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in forging a united front, PTI reported. “If my advice is heeded, it will benefit the country,” he added.

The chief minister, without naming his former ally, said that the Lok Sabha polls were an opportunity for “liberation from these people”.

Khurshid said that the Congress also shares similar sentiments but “the situation is akin to lovers taking their time to decide who should say I love you first”.

Addressing the event, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said that those who speak against the BJP will be raided or sent to jail. “No matter how much stain you have if you are with BJP, it will be cleaned inside the washing machine,” he added. “All of you are fighting to save the Constitution of the country, so we thank all of you.”