Modi should now worry about 2024: Nitish Kumar

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi should ‘worry’ about the prospects of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said on August 10, a day after he split with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for a second time to re-align with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

“He (PM Modi) won in 2014, but should now worry about 2024,” Nitish told reporters shortly after he was administered the oath of office by governor Phagu Chauhan at Raj Bhavan.

Nitish’s jibe at the Prime Minister was the first major salvo fired at the BJP top brass by the Janata Dal (United) and is seen as an indication of Nitish’s attempt to position himself as the opposition’s prime ministerial face in 2024.

The JD(U) leader, however, denied being in the race for the top post. “I am not in the race for the Prime Minister’s post. I have no such plans,” he said, even as the BJP accused him of “backstabbing” the party and blamed his prime ministerial ambitions for his decision.

It was for the second time that the JD(U) broke its alliance with the BJP and joined hands with the RJD-led opposition — the first was in 2013 when the party exited after 17 years in the NDA.

But in 2017, in a sequence of events nearly as dramatic as Tuesday’s, Nitish ditched the so-called Grand Alliance and returned to the NDA. In the 2020 assembly elections, the party was for the first time reduced to the third position in the state, with the RJD becoming the largest and the BJP the second largest party.

All party legislators and lawmakers were unanimous in their stand to sever ties with the BJP, Nitish asserted. “It was a collective decision of the party functionaries and I heeded to it,” he said.

Nitish asserted that he is not a member of the opposition camp at the Centre and will work hard to strengthen the bloc by bringing together all opposition parties ahead of the general elections.

He also dismissed BJP’s claims that the new government in Bihar will not last its full term and said his former ally “will be back where they were after the 2015 assembly polls”, referring to the time when the NDA secured less than 50 seats in the 243-strong assembly.

‘Aaya Ram, gaya Ram’: BJP blasts ‘unpredictable’ Nitish Kumar

New Delhi: As Nitish Kumar pulled the plug on the NDA coalition, the BJP staged a massive demonstration condemning Nitish Kumar’s “betrayal” and unleashed a fusillade of salvos against him.

“There is no other reason for the turnaround except his Prime Ministerial ambitions which make him envious of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He should first try to win a state election on his own, without using an alliance as a crutch,” said Union minister and senior BJP leader Giriraj Singh.

Union Minister RK Singh said Nitish Kumar was “delusional” for aspiring to be the prime minister and asserted that Narendra Modi will return as PM in 2024. He also called out the JD(U) leader’s frequent political volte-faces.

 “This is Nitish’s last hurrah. It’s an example of ‘Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram malady’. He has created a record of jumping ship. He’s aspiring for a higher chair! Somebody told him he’s PM material. He has visions of grandeur. His is the third biggest party in Bihar and no presence anywhere else,” jibed RK Singh.

“How can you guarantee that Nitish Kumar will not again go out of that coalition after 6-8 months? He’s unpredictable. We’ve also changed political party, but not like him. He is ‘Margdarshak’ for everybody who wants to change the party every 6 months,” said the Assam CM, as quoted by ANI.

Bihar prefers Tejashwi as CM; Modi as PM in 2024: Survey

New Delhi: Hours after Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the chief minister of Bihar for the eighth term with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav taking oath as his deputy chief minister, a survey showed the state’s public preferred Tejashwi Yadav for the top post.

According to the C-voter survey on AajTak, 24% of people want to see Nitish Kumar as the chief minister of Bihar. Nineteen percent of people prefer a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader as CM, while Tejashwi Yadav was preferred by 43% of people for the post.

The survey showed that Tejashwi Yadav is more popular among the youth and they want him to be the state’s chief minister.

The survey also asked the voters about their choice of prime minister for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The survey showed that 44% of Bihar’s people liked Narendra Modi as Prime Minister, 22% rooted for Nitish Kumar, while another 18% voted for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as PM.

Images courtesy of (Photo courtesy: freepressjournal.in) and (Graphic courtesy: dailyo.in)

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