The Bharatiya Janata Party sought to downplay Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s declaration of Tuesday that Deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav would lead the “Mahagathbandan (Grand Alliance)” in the 2025 Bihar polls, saying that the claim looks like a “political ploy”.
“Knowing and seeing Nitish Kumar’s political moves all these years, the statement regarding projecting Tejashwi in 2025 polls looks like a political ploy. A leader like Nitish can never live without power,” BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand said, as quoted by The Indian Express.
Another former BJP minister Jibesh Kumar referred to the installation of Jitan Ram Manjhi as CM and his subsequent unceremonious removal as an example. “Nitish Kumar is not someone who can stay without power.”
“He is only hoodwinking Tejashwi. Take it from me in writing,” Kumar told PTI.
The septuagenarian Janata Dal (United) supremo made the remarks about Tejashwi Yadav at a meeting of the ruling coalition’s legislators on the first day of the Bihar Assembly’s Winter Session. He has often said that the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader would “lead the Mahagathbandan” in the Bihar Assembly elections that are scheduled in 2025.
Nitish also reiterated that he will not participate in the Prime Minister’s race, adding that Opposition parties must come together to defeat the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections to be held in 2024.
“The 2025 Assembly elections will be fought under the leadership of Tejashwi ji. I am not in the PM race. We want all Opposition parties to come together and defeat the BJP in the 2024 polls,” he said.
Meanwhile, state Finance minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary of the Janata Dal (United) said that there was “no surprise” in what the CM had said. “He had been talking about Tejashwi being the future of Bihar. He said this in Nalanda on Monday and reiterated this on Tuesday,” he said.
RJD national vice president and former MP Shivanand Tiwari told IE that “This is precisely what I said at a meeting of the RJD national council. Now that Nitish Kumar announced the CM candidature of Tejashwi Prasad, it has given great clarity to our politics.”
Tiwari added, “Nitish said three things. That he is not in the PM race, the Opposition should come together, and Tejashwi should lead. All these things are interlinked. If RJD and JD (U) workers strike up good coordination and try to win a maximum of 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, it can stop the BJP’s return to power in 2024.