Amit Shah Says BJP Will Fight Bihar Assembly Polls Under Nitish Kumar's Leadership

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will contest next year’s Assembly elections in Bihar under the leadership of current Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and added that the alliance between the JDU and the BJP was “atal” (unbreakable). “The Janata Dal (United) and the BJP will go to polls together and we will fight polls under the leadership of Nitish ji. This is absolutely clear,” Shah, also the interim BJP president, said during an interview with News18. Shah said that while at Centre, both parties will work under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, Nitish Kumar will be their leader in the state.

The statement from Shah has, for now, put an end to the speculations of rift between the BJP and JDU triggered in the aftermath of Patna floods. Several BJP leaders had openly criticised CM Nitish Kumar for lack of arrangments after heavy rains flooded the capital city of Bihar.

“In a coalition, there are always tiffs and they should be considered a parameter of a healthy coalition. Bas mat-bhed man-bhed mein nahi badalna chahiye (the difference of opinion must not turn into a change of hearts),” Shah said when asked about the reports of tiff in BJP-JDU coalition.

Also Read | At Dussehra Celebrations In Patna, No BJP Leader Shares Dais With Nitish Kumar

The speculations of a rift between the NDA in Bihar were triggered after BJP leaders didn’t attend the famous Dussehra in Patna where Chief Minister Nitish Kumar shared the dais with Congress leaders.

The seats on the dais which were supposed to be occupied by Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who is also the local MP, Pataliputra MP Ram Kripal Yadav, and state minister and local MLA Nand Kishore Yadav remained empty.