Bihar Chief Deputy Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said the LJP was not part of the NDA in the state (file)
Patna:
With Assembly elections scheduled for less than 20 days, Bihar BJP today expelled the eight rebels who resigned to join the Chirag Paswan LJP in the past week. Senior Deputy Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, the oldest BJP leader in the state and who last week warned rebels to “return to the fold or be expelled,” also stated that the LJP is not part of the NDA in Bihar.
Speaking in Patna on Monday, Modi, who until now had refrained from appointing the LJP even as the relationship between Paswan and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar grows colder and colder, said only the BJP, the JDU, the former’s HAM Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and Mukesh Sahni’s VIPs were part of the NDA and could participate in elections under that banner.
“If we get a majority, only Nitish Kumar will be Prime Minister. There should be no confusion on that front,” Modi said, repeating, to a large extent, that the BJP was solidly behind Nitish Kumar in his bid to become a Chief Minister. six terms.
Mr. Modi’s statement comes as the BJP mobilizes to reassure Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was angered by the party’s apparent refusal to act against Chirag Paswan and his target of the Chief Minister and his ruling JDU.
Paswan, whose LJP is a member of the NDA in the center and whose father, Ram Vilas Paswan, was a Union Minister until his death on Thursday, previously said that he would not contest the elections with the Chief Minister’s JDU, but claimed that his LJP he was still a “strong” partner of the BJP.
Meanwhile, the JDU is reportedly unconvinced that Chirag Paswan, who has made no secret of his ambition to become prime minister, can get away with so many infractions without the tacit blessing of the BJP’s top leadership.
The declaration and expulsion of the rebels, the BJP hopes, will also serve as a warning to anyone else who may be contemplating something similar, a turn of events that could lead to further loss of face with the JDU and materially weaken. his return in this month’s election.
Sushil Kumar Modi also reminded NDA workers in the state what BJP Chairman JP Nadda said on Sunday; Mr. Nadda, in his first campaign speech, praised the government of Nitish Kumar and incorporated it into the “Modi hai to mumkin hai (If there is Modi then it is possible) “catchphrase the BJP used before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Nitish Kumar is synonymous with the development of Bihar, all of which has taken place in the 15 years the NDA has been in power in the state, Modi said.
Elections for the 243-seat Assembly of Bihar will begin on October 28 and will be divided into three phases. Results are due November 3.
The JDU-BJP alliance has agreed to a 122-121 seat sharing agreement, with the VIP getting 11 seats from the BJP side and the HAM getting seven from the JDU.
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