Nitish dares BJP, says ‘Modi should be worried about 2024’ | India News
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PATNA: A day after snapping ties with BJP and stepping down to resurrect his previously short-lived grand alliance with RJD and Congress, Nitish Kumar Wednesday took fresh guard as Bihar CM for a record eighth time in 22 years and sounded the bugle for all non-NDA parties to unite for a crack at the saffron citadel in 2024.
“He (PM Narendra Modi) won in 2014, but should be worried about 2024 (Lok Sabha polls),” 71-year-old Nitish said in his first remarks after governor Phagu Chauhan administered the oath of office to him as CM of a seven-party coalition alongside his chosen deputy, RJD scion Tejashwi Prasad Yadav.
Nitish, whose changing political affiliations in a chequered career of several decades have earned him the epithet “Chanakya of Bihar politics”, will seek a vote of confidence during a two-day special session of the assembly later this month. The trust vote will be preceded by the election of a new speaker, replacing Vijay Kumar Sinha of BJP, with whom the CM had a spat in the House recently.
At its first cabinet meeting, also attended by Tejashwi, the new government decided to convene the assembly on August 24 and 25.
A JD(U) functionary said Tejashwi would be officially notified as the deputy CM soon. “Other cabinet ministers will be sworn in over the next few days, once the three main constituents of the alliance – JD(U), RJD and Congress – decide on the number of portfolios and the ministers.”
“My party (JD-U) unanimously made the decision (to leave NDA)…Whether I will stay or not (till 2024), they can say whatever they want. But I know this for certain, I won’t live in the year 2014,” Nitish said, denying he saw himself as a contender for the prime ministership.
Nitish dismissed BJP’s prediction that the new government wouldn’t last its full term. The CM said his estranged saffron ally should be worried more about whether the party would be back to where it stood in the 2015 assembly polls, when JD(U), RJD and Congress last came together.
BJP had taken a beating at the hands of the JD(U)-RJD-Congress combine in the 2015 Bihar polls, winning only 53 seats out of the 157 it contested.
Before Wednesday’s swearing-in, Nitish spoke to ailing RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who is currently living in daughter and Rajya Sabha member Misa Bharti’s Delhi residence. Besides inquiring about Lalu’s health, Nitish is learnt to have discussed portfolio distribution with him.
Sources in JD(U) said Nitish would retain the all-important home department and general administration portfolios, while RJD may get most of the departments that were with BJP in the erstwhile government.
Senior functionaries of BJP, which remains the second largest party in the assembly with 77 MLAs, were conspicuous by their absence at the Raj Bhavan swearing-in. “We did not receive any invitation. Even if we did, we wouldn’t have been witness to the formation of a government that has been installed after betraying the people of Bihar,” former deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi said.
Outside Raj Bhavan and the residences of Nitish and Tejashwi, hundreds of supporters of JD(U) and RJD celebrated the formation of the new government by beating drums, bursting crackers and distributing sweetmeats among supporters.
“He (PM Narendra Modi) won in 2014, but should be worried about 2024 (Lok Sabha polls),” 71-year-old Nitish said in his first remarks after governor Phagu Chauhan administered the oath of office to him as CM of a seven-party coalition alongside his chosen deputy, RJD scion Tejashwi Prasad Yadav.
Nitish, whose changing political affiliations in a chequered career of several decades have earned him the epithet “Chanakya of Bihar politics”, will seek a vote of confidence during a two-day special session of the assembly later this month. The trust vote will be preceded by the election of a new speaker, replacing Vijay Kumar Sinha of BJP, with whom the CM had a spat in the House recently.
At its first cabinet meeting, also attended by Tejashwi, the new government decided to convene the assembly on August 24 and 25.
A JD(U) functionary said Tejashwi would be officially notified as the deputy CM soon. “Other cabinet ministers will be sworn in over the next few days, once the three main constituents of the alliance – JD(U), RJD and Congress – decide on the number of portfolios and the ministers.”
“My party (JD-U) unanimously made the decision (to leave NDA)…Whether I will stay or not (till 2024), they can say whatever they want. But I know this for certain, I won’t live in the year 2014,” Nitish said, denying he saw himself as a contender for the prime ministership.
Nitish dismissed BJP’s prediction that the new government wouldn’t last its full term. The CM said his estranged saffron ally should be worried more about whether the party would be back to where it stood in the 2015 assembly polls, when JD(U), RJD and Congress last came together.
BJP had taken a beating at the hands of the JD(U)-RJD-Congress combine in the 2015 Bihar polls, winning only 53 seats out of the 157 it contested.
Before Wednesday’s swearing-in, Nitish spoke to ailing RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who is currently living in daughter and Rajya Sabha member Misa Bharti’s Delhi residence. Besides inquiring about Lalu’s health, Nitish is learnt to have discussed portfolio distribution with him.
Sources in JD(U) said Nitish would retain the all-important home department and general administration portfolios, while RJD may get most of the departments that were with BJP in the erstwhile government.
Senior functionaries of BJP, which remains the second largest party in the assembly with 77 MLAs, were conspicuous by their absence at the Raj Bhavan swearing-in. “We did not receive any invitation. Even if we did, we wouldn’t have been witness to the formation of a government that has been installed after betraying the people of Bihar,” former deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi said.
Outside Raj Bhavan and the residences of Nitish and Tejashwi, hundreds of supporters of JD(U) and RJD celebrated the formation of the new government by beating drums, bursting crackers and distributing sweetmeats among supporters.
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