Amid buzz that he could be projected as the Opposition’s Prime Ministerial candidate in 2024, Nitish Kumar, who was on Wednesday sworn in for the eighth time as Chief Minister of Bihar, asserted that the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre should now “worry” about its prospects in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Talking to media persons after after being administered the oath of office by Governor Phagu Chauhan, Kumar said, “Those who came to power in 2014 should now worry if they will be there after 2024.” Nitish was responding to a question: Will he continue to be with the Mahagathbandhan till the 2025 Bihar Assembly polls or make another U-turn.
“They should worry about themselves. I think they will surely not be there after 2014,” he said. Later in his more elaborate comment he talked about 2024, realising that 2014 was a slip of tongue.
Kumar also rubbished the BJP’s claim that the new Government will not last its full term, and said his former ally “will be back where they were after the 2015 Assembly polls”.
Kumar was sworn in besides RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, who is likely to be designated as his deputy. Sources in the seven-party ruling coalition said a Cabinet expansion would take place later.
Kumar is likely to retain the all-important Home portfolio, while the RJD may get most of the departments that were previously with the BJP, a highly-placed source said, adding an in-principle agreement has been reached about the composition of the new Cabinet, which is likely to have 35 members or more drawn from Kumar’s JD(U), the RJD, the Hindustani Awam Morcha and the Congress.
Euphoric scenes were witnessed outside the Raj Bhavan and residences of Kumar and Yadav, as hundreds of supporters of the JD(U) and the RJD celebrated beating drums, bursting crackers and distributing laddus (sweetmeats).
Leaders of the BJP, which is the second largest party in the Assembly with 77 MLAs, were conspicuous by their absence at the swearing-in ceremony that took place inside the Raj Bhavan.
Kumar’s virtual challenge to Prime Minister Modi for the 2024 combat came amid speculation that he may join the race to be projected as the joint Opposition’s candidate to take on Modi in next general elections.
While he himself denied harbouring any such ambition, Opposition leaders have hailed his decision to break ties with the BJP even as newly-elected TMC member of Lok Sabha Shatrughan Sinha has said Kumar along with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be in the “front row” of the Opposition camp to end the “Modi raj” in the country in the 2024 election.
Talking to reporters in Patna, Sinha said the JD(U) leader has given the BJP a dose of its own medicine after it dislodged Governments of Opposition parties in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
“Due to his bold decision, Kumar today stands in the front row in the Opposition camp along with Mamata and others to lead the downfall of ‘Modi raj’ in the next Parliamentary election,” he said.
On who among Kumar and Mamata could emerge as the Opposition face against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the next Lok Sabha poll, the actor-politician told PTI that the people of the country and leaders of the Opposition parties would decide it at an “appropriate” time.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said the revival of the grand alliance in Bihar strengthened secular and democratic forces in the country.
“The return of the Grand Alliance in Bihar is a timely effort in the unity of secular and democratic forces of the country,” he said.
The ruling DMK had said on August 9 that its president Stalin’s vision to fight the BJP at the national level has gained momentum with Kumar’s JD(U) pulling out of the NDA in Bihar.
TRS leader K Kavitha, Kavitha, daughter of TRS supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, said the development that took place in Bihar politics is a positive change for the whole country because the “era of the backdoor politics” has been countered very well by Kumar.
Speaking to reporters here she said Bihar and Nalanda Universities have always shown the way to the world and are now doing the same to the country.
“I feel this is appositive change for the whole of the nation because the era of the backdoor politics have been countered very well by Kumar is what I personally believe....This backdoor politics should be one way or the other stopped and Bihar has started the way,” she said.
NCP Chief Sharad Pawar accused the BJP of finishing off its regional allies gradually, and supported Kumar’s decision to snap ties with the BJP. Speaking to reporters in Baramati town of Maharashtra’s Pune district, Pawar claimed the BJP was planning how to weaken the Shiv Sena and create a division in the party.
“Today, the BJP is planning how the Shiv Sena can be weakened by creating a division in the party, and (present Maharashtra CM) Eknath Shinde and others helped,” he said.
A similar picture was being seen in Bihar. Kumar, of the JD(U), and the BJP contested the last Assembly elections together, he said.
“One more speciality of the BJP is that it joins hands with a regional party at the time of elections, but ensures the ally wins fewer seats. It happened in Maharashtra also,” Pawar claimed. When a similar picture was being witnessed in Bihar, the CM of the State got cautious well in advance and took the decision to snap ties with the BJP, he said.
“No matter how much BJP leaders criticise Kumar, but he has taken a wise step. He took the decision anticipating the crisis the BJP was planning to bring on. I think he made a wise decision for his state and party,” Pawar said.