Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday sidestepped a question about the potential of contesting the following yr’s Lok Sabha ballot from his pocket borough Nalanda. The JD (U) supreme chief was an MP from the seat till he resigned in 2005 to imagine the best seat of energy within the state. His celebration, nonetheless, has been capable of retain the seat.
Sitting MP Kaushalendra Kumar, who’s serving his third consecutive time period, had on Saturday stated he was prepared to surrender the seat if his mentor wished to enter the fray.
When journalists approached the chief minister with a question on the MP’s assertion, his reply was characteristically cryptic.
“Just leave it. Why do you worry (chhodiye na aap log kahe chinta karte hain)”, stated the longest-serving CM of the state, as he walked previous the posse of reporters with a smirk on his face.
Incidentally, shortly after Kumar dumped the BJP in August final yr, there had been speculations that he might contest from Phulpur in adjoining Uttar Pradesh, a Lok Sabha seat previously represented by Jawahar Lal Nehru, the place a sizeable chunk of voters are Kurmis, the caste to which the JD(U) chief belongs.
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The JD(U) boss, who has vowed to defeat former ally BJP by uniting the opposition within the 2024 common elections, additionally appeared reluctant to touch upon the a centesimal episode of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Mann Ki Baat”.
The saffron celebration has been furious over Kumar’s opposition unity outreach which just lately noticed him rubbing shoulders with leaders as numerous as Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and Akhilesh Yadav.
The BJP, which misplaced energy in Bihar because of Kumar’s exit from the NDA final yr, has been testily asserting that there was “no vacancy for the prime minister’s post in 2024”.
Kumar, who had held essential portfolios within the authorities of Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the Centre, has been categorically stating that he had “no ambitions” for himself.
