New Delhi: Taking a dig at the Opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc after Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar reportedly turned down his appointment as the convener, Bihar BJP chief Samrat Chaudhary said the alliance never wanted him to be a Prime Ministerial contender. After a virtual meeting of the Opposition alliance, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge was appointed as its chairperson on Saturday. According to JDU leader Sanjay Kumar Jha, Nitish wanted the convenor to be from Congress.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Chaudhary said, “People of Bihar were expecting that Nitish Kumar will be announced as the Opposition’s prime ministerial candidate, but his name was not announced by the alliance. People of INDI alliance never wanted him to become the PM contender.”
Mocking the Opposition alliance over their decision, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said had the convener offer been serious, it would have been announced much earlier.
Speaking to the news agency, he said, “First tell me was the (convener) offer serious? If it was serious why was this not given earlier and if this was not serious then why was this given now?”
He further took a swipe at the alliance saying they are engaging in pointless deliberations over their prime ministerial candidate, the convener post, their opposition, their consensus, when Lok Sabha electoral victory was a far cry for them.
A Virtual Alliance Doing Virtual Meeting: Nadda
Taking potshots at the Opposition huddle, BJP president JP Nadda said the “virtual alliance” held “virtual meetings” just as a formality and their only agenda is to protect their families and properties.
Addressing a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha to launch 'Namo Navmatdata Abhiyan', Nadda said, “A virtual alliance will do virtual meetings only. It will do so for the sake of formalities.”
Launching an attack on Mamata Banerjee, Sharad Pawar, Farooq Abdullah and MK Stalin, Nadda said the Opposition leaders are only concerned about their children and families.