Amid reports that Nitish Kumar’s name is being considered for the Presidential post by some Opposition parties, JDU is firm about staying with the BJP.
New Delhi: Amid reports and speculation that Janata Dal United (JDU) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s name is doing the rounds as the Opposition candidate for the Presidential post, sources have confirmed to The Sunday Guardian that Nitish Kumar is not at all interested in coming out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the entire controversy was created by few people who are testing the waters and working on an arithmetic for a non-BJP, non-Congress third front before the 2024 elections. Sources within the JDU have confirmed to The Sunday Guardian that Nitish Kumar’s recent visit to New Delhi where he met poll strategist Prasant Kishor was more of a personal meeting rather than a political one.
One senior JDU leader based in New Delhi who is privy to the developments said, “The issue is created by the media and some people having vested interest. Opposition doesn’t have the numbers to make a President. Do we expect a seasoned leader like Nitish Kumar to fight the Presidential election knowing well in advance that he is going to lose? Moreover, even a political naïve knows that he had to sacrifice the Bihar government and the CM’s chair. It is the day dreaming of few election strategists who hardly understand politics.”
The debate started when Nitish Kumar was in Delhi where he met Prasant Kishor and at the same time Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson Nawab Malik made a statement which reads, “We can consider Nitish Kumar’s name only if the JDU first breaks out of the NDA. Then the leaders of all Opposition parties will sit and collectively give a thought to it.” Afterwards, even Bihar’s main opposition party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) gave feelers to Nitish Kumar on the issue.
Talking to The Sunday Guardian, Satish Kumar Jha, a Professor of Political Science under University of Delhi said, “Opposition will definitely like to make Nitish Kumar the presidential candidate as it will send a message that the NDA is no more as JDU is the largest constituent of NDA after the BJP, but we also need to keep the electoral college of the Presidential election in mind. It will be difficult for any opposition candidate to emerge victorious in the election irrespective of the Uttar Pradesh verdict. I don’t think that Nitish Kumar will put his active political career at stake for an uncertain election. Despite only having 43-MLAs, he is able to smoothly run the state government. Before every Lok Sabha poll, we hear about the non-BJP, non-Congress third front; the attempt to project Nitish Kumar as the opposition candidate is also coming from those who are interested in third front politics. But, if we holistically look at Indian politics, the idea of any opposition front without the Congress looks hollow. Congress had not said anything on Nitish Kumar’s much discussed candidature; for any opposition alliance to succeed, the Congress needs to be its fulcrum.”
In the past the BJP central leadership had agreed to many demands made by Nitish Kumar despite having an upper hand in Bihar. Despite the JDU having won only two seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP gave it 17 seats to fight in the 2019 Lok Sabha which was equal to the number of parliamentary segments the saffron party contested in Bihar. Before the Assembly polls, the BJP had declared that Nitish Kumar will be the chief ministerial candidate irrespective of which party gets more seats and stick to the promise when the JDU came third by winning only 43 Assembly seats, while the BJP won 74 seats in the 2020 Bihar Assembly polls. In his recent interview, Narendra Modi himself had praised Nitish Kumar’s socialist credentials; hence, it is highly unlikely that Nitish Kumar will switch sides.