PATNA: Even as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar continues to assert that he is not a PM aspirant in the next Lok Sabha election, his close aides have been obliquely speaking about it, triggering speculation whether JD (U) may take a tough stand on the leadership issue.
While addressing the JD-U’s plenary session in the state capital on Sunday, Nitish said, “There is no scope for a third front in 2024 as there will only be the ‘main front’ against the BJP.” He said anti-BJP parties could win the 2024 Lok Sabha election with a huge majority if they came on a single platform.
“I will keep making efforts to make it possible. It depends on opposition parties,” he said.
Nitish also accused the BJP of working against the JD-U in the 2020 assembly elections even when his party was in the NDA. He said it was the reason his party could not perform “satisfactorily” in the previous assembly elections.
Taking a dig at BJP without naming it, he said, “They should be reminded that never before had our party won fewer seats, either in assembly polls of 2005 or 2010. In 2020, we got fewer seats as they (BJP) made attempts to ensure the defeat of our candidates.”
Reiterating his demand for according special status for Bihar, the CM alleged that Bihar was denied all help by the Centre. He said the country could not be put on a growth trajectory until poor states were developed.
Meanwhile, senior JD (U) minister Sanjay Jha, considered close to Nitish, told party leaders and workers in the plenary session that “we should work for achieving two goals – one that the JD (U) is accorded the status of a national party, and second, we should ensure that Nitish unfurls the national flag at the Red fort.” He said the Opposition was clueless as to what would happen in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and how democracy would be saved.
“After Nitish has snapped ties with NDA, there is a glimmer of hope as they understand only Nitish is capable of saving the situation in 2024,” he remarked. Similarly, state JD-U chief Umesh Kushwaha called Nitish a ‘yug purush,’ asserting that no leader could compete with Nitish, indirectly advocating for his projection as the PM nominee for the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Meanwhile, calendars with a slogan that the country should have a Nitish-like leader were also distributed among party leaders participating in the plenary session. Nitish’s Mahagathbandhan partner RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav had praised him in August, saying Nitish could emerge as a “strong candidate” for prime minister in 2024 if opposition parties agreed to consider him for the job.
“It signals that most of the Opposition parties recognise the larger challenge before the country -- the hegemony of the BJP, where on the back of money, media, and (administrative) machinery power, they are determined to stamp out all diversity from the Indian society as well as from the political spectrum,” the RJD leader had said.