No third front now, no decision to project Nitish Kumar as PM: JD(U)

JD(U) today dismissed formation of a ‘third front’ as of now and said it has not taken any decision to project its President Nitish Kumar as prime ministerial candidate.

“Anything like third front is neither in the party’s thinking as of now nor it is in the mind of party’s leadership ... It (third front) is not even in discussion,” JD(U) general secretary K C Tyagi told reporters here. “We are trying for first front,” Tyagi said in a lighter vein.

Talking to reporters after the party office-bearers meeting here at the residence of Chief Minister and JD(U) President Nitish Kumar, he said the party has neither taken any decision nor passed any resolution to project Nitish Kumar as prime ministerial candidate.

The party cannot do anything if leaders like Lalu Prasad, Babulal Marandi, Sharad Pawar back Kumar as PM candidate, he said, adding even BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi had earlier said that he (Kumar) was ‘PM material’.

“JD-U is also saying that Nitish Kumar is PM material ... If so many leaders like Charan Singh, V P Singh, H D Devegowda, I K Gujral, Chandrashekhar hailing from Janata Parivar can become PM, others can too. So what is surprising in it?” Tyagi said.

Bihar’s mandate, he asserted, is not only for the state. No one can fight BJP alone and it can be defeated only by combined efforts as was seen in the Bihar assembly polls.

“Our national president has appealed to all non BJP parties to unite against it (BJP)...Our leader is trying to create an environment in which every party opposed to BJP will come at one platform,” Tyagi said referring to Kumar’s ‘Sangh-mukt’ call.

As national president of JD(U) Kumar is touring various parts of the country to strengthen the party’s organisation and would address a workers conference on June 18 in Mirzapur district of UP, he said.

Tyagi said the office-bearers of Kisan Manch, which was launched by former prime minister V P Singh, under its chief Vinod Singh have joined JD(U).

The party named Arun Srivastava as in-charge of the membership campaign committee and Anil Hegde as returning officer for conducting elections after the drive is completed.