‘It is a joke...bogus,’ says Nitish Kumar on BJP’s claim that he wanted to be vice president
BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi had claimed that JD(U) leaders had approached the Hindutva party with the proposal.
A day after Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sushil Kumar Modi alleged that Janata Dal (United) leaders had lobbied to make Nitish Kumar the vice president of the country, the Bihar chief minister dismissed the claim as a joke.
On Tuesday, Kumar broke ranks with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, and a day later, took oath as chief minister of Bihar for the eighth time with support from the Rashtriya Janata Dal-led grand alliance of seven parties.
On Thursday, reporters asked him to respond to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s comment that the new government would only last for six to eight months.
“Let them say whatever they want,” Kumar retorted. “Didn’t you see what one of them said...That I wanted to become the vice president...It is a joke, it is absolutely bogus.”
Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday claimed that Janata Dal (United) leaders had approached the BJP with the proposal to make Kumar the vice-presidential candidate of the National Democratic Alliance, PTI reported.
Kumar on Thursday pointed out that Janata Dal (United) legislators had supported the candidates of the National Democratic Alliance in the recently held presidential and vice-presidential polls.
#WATCH | "You heard a man (Sushil Modi) say that I wanted to be Vice President. What a joke! It's bogus. I had no such desire. Did they forget how much did our party support in Pres-VP polls?..Let them talk against me so that they get a position again," says Bihar CM Nitish Kumar pic.twitter.com/sj9Q7lqvbh
— ANI (@ANI) August 11, 2022
Nitish Kumar’s storm can challenge BJP, says Shiv Sena
Kumar has created a storm that could pose a challenge to the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Shiv Sena said on Thursday in an editorial published in its mouthpiece Saamana, PTI reported.
“Repercussions of political revolutions in Bihar, the land of socialist leader Jai Prakash Narayan, are felt in the entire country and the new political realignment in the state could potentially change the outcome of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” the editorial reads.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led party also urged Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal founder Lalu Prasad Yadav to resolve their old differences to foster unity among the Opposition.
The editorial also targets Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who led a revolt of Shiv Sena MLAs and walked out of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance to form a government with the support of the BJP.
On Thursday, the Shiv Sena said Shinde should learn from Kumar that there was no need to bend his knees in front of the BJP.