Congress keen to project Nitish Kumar as Bihar CM again

Patna: Amid growing unease over seat distribution within NDA in Bihar, the Congress has started sending signals to chief minister Nitish Kumar, urging him to return to the grand secular alliance fold.

A series of statements from the state Congress leaders indicate that the party is ready to project Nitish Kumar as a chief ministerial candidate of the grand alliance for 2020 Assembly elections.

However, sources claim that the statements from Congress leaders on the issue may create differences in the grand alliance as RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav is averse to joining hands with Nitish Kumar.

In a statement recently, Tejashwi Yadav had said that the “doors of grand secular alliance have been shut for Nitish Kumar”.

Congress MLA Shakeel Ahmed Khan was the first to question RJD’s remark against Bihar chief minister. He said, “The focus should be to rope in all secular parties on one platform against BJP. Tejashwi Yadav cannot single-handedly decide who should join the secular forces. There are senior leaders like Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Lalu Prasad Yadav to take decisions on important issues.”

A few Congress leaders also snubbed the RJD for projecting Tejashwi Yadav as the CM candidate for 2020 Assembly elections.

“Formation of a larger secular alliance at the national level is necessary to stop BJP from returning to power. As far as the CM candidate is concerned, there are several leaders in Bihar Congress, who believe that the popularity of Nitish Kumar cannot be challenged. But such issues are decided by senior party leaders and it is too early to declare a CM candidate,” Congress MLA Sudharshan Kumar told this newspaper.

However, the acting president of Bihar Congress Kaukab Quadri convened a meeting in Patna and issued an advisory to party workers on exercising “restraint while speaking on Nitish Kumar’s return and the CM face of grand alliance in the coming elections”.

Analysts say that all eyes are now fixed on the crucial JD(U) national executive meeting scheduled for July 8 in New Delhi where Nitish Kumar is likely to assess the political scenario.

BJP national president Amit Shah may also meet Nitish Kumar on July 12 where he is expected to discuss the issues related to seat sharing. According to BJP leaders here, “The party hopes that things will become normal after the meeting between Nitish Kumar and Amit Shah.”

Sources claim that the JD(U) is seeking to contest on more LS seats in Bihar than its alliance partner BJP.  JD(U) spokespersons have been giving statements against BJP for the last one month. Spokesperson Sanjay Singh had gone to the extent of saying that “the BJP is free to contest on all of the 40 LS seats if the JD(U) doesn’t get larger share during seat distribution”.

The JD(U) had earlier floated the idea of distributing seats in Bihar on the basis of performance in the 2015 Assembly elections in which the party had emerged as the second largest with 71 seats.

The JD(U) has rejected the offer to contest on eight to nine seats in Bihar. Sources say that the party wants to contest on at least 15 seats this time. “Our party used to contest on around 22 seats in Bihar earlier. Since there are more partners this time, we are ready to compromise, but nine seats are not acceptable,” said a JD(U) insider.

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