PATNA: Two days after a senior JD-U minister claimed Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has all the abilities to become President, JD-U national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh on Saturday scotched all speculations over it by asserting Nitish would not be a Presidential candidate.
JD-U chief Lalan Singh, also the party MP from Munger, said, “Nitish Ji is neither a candidate nor he is going to become President. He has got the mandate to serve people of the state till 2025.”
Senior JD-U minister Shravan Kumar had created a flutter in political circles when he commented that Nitish possessed all the qualities to become the President a few hours after the Election Commission announced Presidential election schedule on Thursday.
Besides Lalan, two other ministerial colleague of Nitish Kumar — Sanjay Kumar Jha and Ashok Choudhary—heaped praises on Nitish saying that although Nitish possessed all the qualities for the post, he was not eager to be in the race for the President's post.
The main opposition party, RJD, also extended its support to Nitish if he was declared Presidential candidate. It would be a matter of pride for Bihar if somebody from the state becomes President, the party commented. Earlier too, there were speculations over Nitish Kumar being projected as Presidential or Vice Presidential candidates but he had himself rejected all these conjectures.
But the issue revived after the JD-U minister Shravan's statement on CM as Presidential candidate. But it is still shrouded in mystery why Shravan pitched for making Nitish a Presidential candidate when other senior JD-U leaders had to clarify later that Nitish would not be presidential candidate.
Two other senior JDU ministers- Sanjay Jha and Ashok Choudhary- had also earlier said that Nitish had no wish to become President and would continue to serve the people till 2025.
On being contacted, Shravan Kumar, who hold rural development portfolio, said, “Such kinds of talks keep on doing the rounds in the air given his (Nitish) long and illustrious political career. But the fact is that he no lust to become either the Prime Minister or the President.”
The reversal of JD-U's stand on the issue came soon after some BJP leaders took a dig at JD-U for projecting Nitish Kumar as Presidential candidate. “It is not that only one person deserves this post. There are millions of people in the country who have the qualities to become the President,' remarked state agriculture minister Raghvendra Pratap Singh.
Singh is a cabinet minister from BJP quota.