Nitish Kumar will remain the Chief Minister, as it was our commitment, said Sushil Modi.
Patna:
This is not about replacing Nitish Kumar as Bihar’s chief minister, the BJP said today, a day after he first outpointed his ally in the state elections.
The BJP won 74 of Bihar’s 243 seats, pushing the NDA’s tally past the majority mark, while Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United was capped at 43.
With Nitish Kumar losing Big Brother status in Bihar and the BJP gaining the upper hand for the first time in the state where it has never had a Chief Minister, there have been questions about the top job.
“Nitishji will remain the Chief Minister, as it was our commitment. There is no confusion about this,” Sushil Kumar Modi and BJP Senior Deputy Minister said today.
In an election, he added, “some win more and others less.” “But we are equal partners,” said Sushil Modi.
The BJP has never ruled Bihar by itself and could not have retained power in the state without Nitish Kumar. But the results give the BJP leverage. Sources say that in Nitish Kumar’s fourth term, the balance of power is likely to be different.
A big contributor to the changed equations is Chirag Paswan, an NDA partner who ran candidates against Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United (JDU) and is believed to have caused the most damage to the Chief Minister.
Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) ended with just one seat, but in all others it challenged, it ate up the JDU’s votes, causing its count to drop since 2015. Throughout these elections there has been speculation that Chirag Paswan’s revolt against Nitish Kumar had the blessings of BJP. Many judged yesterday that the young Paswan, whose father Ram Vilas Paswan was a minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, had passed through the BJP and helped to diminish Nitish Kumar’s position.
Chirag Paswan himself said today: “Yes, like all parties, I too would like to win as many seats as possible, but my goal for this election was to ensure that the BJP emerges as a stronger party in the state and we are happy with the impact we’ve had. ” Before this, the LJP leader had always said that his main objective was the defeat of Nitish Kumar.
The BJP has firmly denied any secret understanding with Chirag Paswan. Sushil Modi admitted that the LJP harmed the Janata Dal United candidates by more than 20 seats. But he said: “Whether he remains in the central leadership of the NDA, we will have to take a call, but he is not part of the NDA in Bihar.”
Bihar head of the BJP, Sanjay Jaiswal, added: “There is no question that Nitish Kumar is our prime minister, this is not a rethinking, it is not a minor or senior partner in an alliance.”
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