Nitish Kumar to lead NDA in Bihar polls, BJP’s Dilip Jaiswal asserts

Jaiswal, who resigned from his ministerial post on Thursday following instructions from the party’s central leadership, initially stated that the CM’s name would be decided at a meeting.

Bihar Chief Minister and JDU supremo Nitish Kumar. (File Photo | PTI)

PATNA: Confusion over Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar being declared as the NDA’s chief ministerial candidate in the upcoming assembly election persisted, but Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal later clarified that Nitish would indeed be the coalition’s face.

Jaiswal, who resigned from his ministerial post on Thursday following instructions from the party’s central leadership, initially stated that the CM’s name would be decided at a meeting of the parliamentary board of alliance partners after the election results were announced. However, he later retracted and confirmed Nitish Kumar’s candidature.

“The NDA will go to polls with full vigour and achieve its target of winning 225 seats in the 243-member Bihar assembly,” Jaiswal told the media.

His remarks came just days after Nitish Kumar’s son, Nishant Kumar, urged the NDA to officially declare his father as the CM candidate. He also appealed to voters to support his father in the upcoming election, stating that he had persistently worked for the state’s development over the past 19 years.

This was the second time in recent weeks that Nishant made a public appearance, as he has largely maintained a low profile.

Jaiswal reiterated that there was no uncertainty over Nitish’s leadership. “Nitish will be NDA’s CM face in the upcoming election,” he said. To reinforce his stance, he referred to the alliance’s slogan, “2025, phir se Nitish.”

He also assured that the NDA remained intact and would contest the election unitedly.

Apart from the BJP and JD(U), the NDA in Bihar includes Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Samta Party.