‘But dreams to become PM’: BJP mocks Nitish Kumar as 5 JD(U) MLAs in Manipur quit

As five MLAs of Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) in Manipur joined the BJP on Friday, the BJP mocked Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and his ‘speculated’ ambition to contest for the PM post in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

Calling him a ‘lame duck chief minister’, BJP’s Amit Malviya said Nitish Kumar is seeing his party’s footprint shrink in Bihar and outside, but he dreams of becoming the prime minister.

Nitish Kumar ended his alliance with the NDA in Bihar and stitched a fresh alliance with the RJD and the Congress in Bihar to become the chief minister of the Mahagathbandhan government. The renewal of the Grand Alliance set tongues wagging about Nitish Kumar hoping to be the PM face of the joint opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, though he played down these talks.

Amid the ongoing BJP-JD(U) turf war, Kh Joykishan, N Sanate, Md Achab Uddin, former DGP L M Khaute and Thangjam Arunkumar joined the BJP in Manipur. Khaute and Arunkumar had previously sought to contest the assembly polls on BJP tickets but joined the JD(U) after being denied BJP tickets.

Nitish versus BJP

After returning as the chief minister of the Mahagathbandhan government, Nitish Kumar has been deflecting speculations about his national ambition. However, Bihar JD(U) leaders are not at all dismissive of the possibilities. In fact, a poster put up outside the party headquarters in Patna ahead of the party’s two-day national convention on Saturday and Sunday read “Pradesh mein dikha, desh mein dikhega” — implying that the country is to see Nitish Kumar’s ‘good governance’, apparently projecting him for a national role.

After the convention, Nitish Kumar is scheduled to visit Delhi to meet the Congress top brass to thank them for the alliance in Bihar.

Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao who met Nitish Kumar in Patna said the opposition parties are yet to sit and decide about the futre course of action for the 2024 general election.