Nitish Kumar Losing Ground In Bihar? BJP's Move Over Choosing CM Causes Ripples Ahead Of Assembly Polls

Nitish Kumar's bid to retain the chair of Bihar CM faces a hurdle as the BJP announced that the decision on the CM candidate will be made by the parliamentary board

The BJP said that the CM in Bihar will be chosen following a parliamentary board meeting.

Source : PTI

Nitish Kumar's aim to continue as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the consecutive tenth time could hit a roadblock this time after his party's ally, Bharatiya Janata Party announced its post-assembly polls plan. 

While the saffron party said it would contest the polls, slated to be held later this year, in alliance with Kumar's Janata Dal (United), the decision on CM face will be taken in a parliamentary board meeting. 

Bihar BJP chief, Dilip Kumar Jaiswal, said on Friday that the party's parliamentary board will decide the next chief minister. He said that the polls would be contested under the leadership of Nitish Kumar but the decision for chief minister will be taken by all coalition partners of the NDA. 

Later, BJP leader Prem Kumar was asked about the statement made by the party's state president, to which he responded by saying that if the state president has made such a statement, then he believes it to be correct. 

"We will contest the elections as a coalition. The party has made that decision. Once the election results are out, the party will definitely decide based on the consensus of the legislators. The NDA members will determine this," Kumar said.  

The development comes just days after an expansion of the Nitish Kumar-led cabinet in the state. Seven MLAs, all from BJP, were inducted into the cabinet taking the total number of BJP ministers from 15 to 22 while 13 ministers are from Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United), one from the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and an Independent.

Sanjay Saraogi, Dr Sunil Kumar, Jibesh Kumar, Raju Kumar Singh, Moti Lal Prasad, Krishan Kumar Mantoo, and Vijay Kumar Mandal were among the BJP legislators who were sworn in as ministers.