Nitish Kumar for President? Bihar CM says ‘no idea’ amid buzz after meeting with Prashant Kishor

Reacting to the growing buzz over his candidature for the post of the President of India, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday said that he had no idea about it. When Kumar was approached by journalists, he replied with folded hands “This matter is not at the back of my mind”.

The ball was set rolling by Maharashtra leader Nawab Malik who said that his party, headed by Sharad Pawar, was ready to back the JD(U) leader for the country’s highest  constitutional office if the latter snapped ties with BJP.

The buzz kicked off after Kumar had a two-hour-long meeting with poll strategist Prashant Kishor last Friday. Kishor is believed to be in touch with various opposition leaders like Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, K Chandrashekhar Rao, MK Stalin and Mamata Banerjee. However, both Kumar and Kishor had said that no politics was discussed in the meeting held in the national capital. 

It is being reported in a section of the media that Kishor, who has worked in his professional capacity with almost every prominent political party in the country, is playing a role in getting non-BJP parties back Kumar by way of demonstrating “opposition unity”.

The JD(U) is, predictably, gratified with the hubbub and state minister Shravan Kumar, a confidant of Kumar, ebulliently asserted that the Bihar chief minister “deserved” to be at the top.

There was no reaction so far from BJP, his ally in Bihar which rules the Centre with majority in Lok Sabha but may have to depend heavily on the support of other parties to get a candidate of its choice elected as the president.

Meanwhile, there were mixed responses from the RJD on the matter. Party chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav questioned how could a “murder accused” be elected to the top post. He was referring to a nearly three decades old case in which Kumar has been acquitted by Supreme Court.

RJD spokesmen Mrityunjay Tiwari and Shakti Yadav came up with a more nuanced response.

Tiwari said, “As a Bihari I will be proud” if a leader from the state became the president but alleged that Kumar, “once seen as prime minister material by Laluji himself”  had lost his credibility following his realignment with BJP.

Shakti Yadav recalled Kumar’s own stance in the last two presidential elections when he had supported candidates fielded by coalitions opposed to the ones he was part of.

The JD(U) leader had supported Pranab Mukherjee, despite then being with the NDA, and supported Kovind, who was fielded by the BJP, though he was then in the Grand Alliance which included RJD and Congress.

Meanwhile, LJP leader Chirag Paswan, who seems intent on making a career out of attacks on Kumar, bristled at the sudden spotlight on the septuagenarian. In a tweet, he taunted Kumar for “not denying” the speculations and charged him with pursuing his own ambitions while leaving the state in ruins.