Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Monday said the 2020 state elections will be contested under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, PTI reported. He dismissed rumours about tensions in the Bharatiya Janata Party-Janata Dal (United) alliance before the polls.

“Reports in the media often leave doubts in the minds of the people as to whether the NDA will remain intact or not,” Modi said in the Bihar Assembly. “Let me tell the people of the state from this House that we will be contesting the Assembly polls next year under the leadership of Nitish Kumar.”

“Let there be no illusions. Nobody likes to ride a sinking ship,” he said in a jibe at the Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal alliance in the state.

On July 17, reports emerged that the Bihar Police had instructed district police officers in May to gather details on functionaries and office-bearers of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and associate Sangh outfits. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is the ideological parent of the BJP.

In May, the Janata Dal (United) had also refused to take up the lone Union Cabinet berth offered by the Centre after the Lok Sabha elections. The Bihar government had later expanded its Cabinet, inducting eight ministers, all from the Janata Dal (United).