New Delhi: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday said that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar wanted to become the vice president and he left the ruling alliance with the BJP after the party failed to accommodate his ambitions, news agency PTI reported.
However, national president of Kumar’s JD(U), Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan, refuted the claims of the former deputy Chief Minister and also mocked Modi as a leader “abandoned by the roadside” by his own party as a “punishment” for “close relations he had with Nitish Kumar”.
Meanwhile, ending the coalition with the BJP, Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar on Wednesday took an oath as Bihar's Chief Minister. Tejashwi Yadav, RJD leader and the majority party in the Mahagathbandhan alliance, was also administered oath by Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan, as he became the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar.
Nitish Kumar took oath as Bihar's Chief Minister for the eighth time in a span of 22 years.
It is to noted that after severing ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party and joining hands with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Nitish Kumar turned aggressive towards his former ally and Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that the PM “should worry about 2024”, reported news agency ANI.
CM Nitish also said that he is “not a contender” in the race for Prime Minister, something that was being speculated as the reason for him to end the alliance.
“Those who came to power in 2014, will they be victorious in 2024? I would like all (opposition) to be united for 2024. I am not a contender for any such post (on PM post),” said the Janata Dal United chief.
Reacting to Sushil Modi’s statement after the split who said that the Mahagathbandhan government will fall before the next elections and that Nitish Kumar would “ditch RJD” as well, the latter said that the “new government will run just fine”.