The apprehensions over Bihar CM went on the rise on Thursday after Nitish Kumar, addressing his first press conference after Assembly polls, said that it is for the NDA to decide on who will head the state Assembly next.
Talking to reporters for the first time after the NDA's victory, Nitish Kumar said the date for his swearing-in ceremony will be discussed at an "informal" meeting of all the four NDA constituents on Friday.
Replying to the questions about his oath-taking ceremony, Janata Dal United (JDU) chief said that the date has not been finalised as of yet and the process may take three-four days.
"It has not been decided yet as to when the oath ceremony will take place, after Diwali or Chhath. We are analysing the results of this election. All four political parties of NDA alliance will meet tomorrow," Kumar said.
When asked about his discussion with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over CM contendership, Kumar said that he said not made any claims and the decision will be taken by NDA.
JDU suffered a major slump in seats in the assembly polls on account of the rebellion by Chirag Paswan. On the same Kumar said it is for the alliance spearhead BJP to take a call on whether to retain the LJP in the NDA.
"You make suggestions to this effect", Kumar replied laughingly when asked whether he would ask the BJP to drop the LJP from the NDA at the Centre in the wake of its brinkmanship that scuppered the chances of JD(U) candidates in several seats.
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The JDU has returned with a tally of 43 seats, down from 71 in 2015 when he contested assembly polls in alliance with the RJD and the Congress. In contrast, the BJP, which was hitherto a junior alliance partner, won 74 seats.
Some political pundits also believe that the poll results will not put any hurdle in the way of Kumar's return as the chief minister but will likely alter the power equations between the two parties.
However, when asked whether he was apprehensive about being able to function as freely as earlier, Kumar replied in the negative.
"I have always been uncompromising on the three Cs crime, corruption and communalism. There is going to be no change. Not a single riot has taken place since I took over," Kumar said.
Meanwhile, Kumar declined to comment on the allegations by opposition leaders, including RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, that the process of counting of votes was rigged to help the NDA which got a slender majority and won by wafer-thin margins in several seats.