Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Chief of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, made a statement on Thursday emphasising the importance of a spouse for the Prime Minister. When questioned about the potential prime ministerial candidate from the Opposition, Lalu expressed his opinion that no Prime Minister should be without a wife. He also advised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to consider getting married.

Lalu was quoted by ANI, stating, "Whoever becomes the Prime Minister should not be without a wife. Staying at the Prime Minister's residence without a wife is wrong. This should be done away with..."

Lalu added that the united Opposition will win at least 300 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Lalu will be travelling to Bengaluru for the meeting of the opposition parties on July 17-18.

"I am going to Delhi for my routine medical examination, including blood tests. After that I will come back to Patna, and then go to Bengaluru for the meeting of the opposition parties. I am also preparing the ground for the ouster of the Modi government from the Centre in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls," he said.

The second meeting of the 'like-minded' opposition parties will be held in Bengaluru on July 17-18. The first meeting was held in Patna on June 23.

The meeting will take place in the backdrop of vertical split in the Nationalist Congress Party. Senior party leader Ajit Pawar parted ways and was sworn-in as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra on Sunday. Eight other NCP MLAs took oath as the ministers in Eknath Shinde-BJP government.

With inputs from PTI