Nitish Kumar
BJP will shrink to 50 seats in 2024 LS polls if Opposition unites: Nitish Kumar
BJP will shrink to 50 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections if all the opposition unites, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said Saturday. "I am working for that," he added but dodged questions on his likely national role.
After he dumped BJP in a surprise move and joined hands with former allies RJD and Congress, political circles have been rife with speculation about whether Nitish is targeting a significant role post the Lok Sabha elections.
Soon after the split, reports said JD(U) leaders in Bihar had started pitching Nitish as the prime ministerial candidate of the joint opposition. However, the Bihar unit of NCP had dismissed the possibility, saying that party chief Sharad Pawar was fitter for the role as he had been a Central minister for several users and had a bigger national presence than Nitish.
Nitish's call for Opposition unity came during his party JDU's executive meeting in Patna, where unanimous resolutions were passed authorising him to work for Opposition unity, and the other saying there's an "undeclared emergency" in the country under the BJP.
Earlier, on Saturday he confirmed he will be visiting Delhi on Sunday to meet with top Opposition leaders to form an anti-BJP front.
However, leaders like TMC chief Mamata Banerjee and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi have been trying to lead a united Opposition. As Nitish Kumar takes the new role, he is clearly projecting himself at the forefront of national politics, signalling he is ready to shed his regional character.
The JD (U) chief, who had maintained a stoic silence over BJP-supported Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde's coup in Maharashtra that forced Udhdhav Thackeray to step down, Saturday slammed his previous ally for breaking-off MLAs of other parties.
Five JD (U) leaders in Manipur defected to BJP when Nitish withdrew support from the latter. He said they had met him in Bihar and said they were happy over the party ditching the BJP-led NDA.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Sushil Modi, who was the deputy CM in the previous Nitish-led government in Bihar, said posters and hoardings don't make anybody a PM while referring to publicity material at JD (U) office that had Nitish Kumar-versus-Narendra Modi analogies in new slogans.
He asked how can a leader with just five to 10 MPs could become a PM. He said Nitish knew well he could not even be a PM candidate.
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