Patna, Aug 4 (PTI) Contemporary speculations of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar contesting Lok Sabha polls from adjoining BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh have left the ruling Mahagathbandhan in Bihar and the saffron social gathering, in opposition right here, at one another’s throat. The speculations had been triggered after Shravan Kumar, a Bihar minister, who can be the JD(U)’s in-charge for UP, stated there have been “calls for” that the social gathering boss enters the fray from the adjoining state.
“I used to be lately in Jaunpur and there are very sturdy calls for that honourable chief minister take into account combating Lok Sabha polls from UP,” Shravan Kumar had informed a regional information channel.
Bijendra Yadav, essentially the most senior member of the cupboard and a former state JD(U) president, informed reporters on Thursday on the social gathering workplace, “Not simply Uttar Pradesh, however our items in lots of different states need the chief minister to contest from there. In fact, it’s a choice for the chief to take”.
Shortly after Nitish Kumar had stop the NDA final 12 months, vowing to defeat the BJP-led coalition in 2024, intense speculations had arisen that he might combat elections from Phulpur, well-known in historical past because the seat of Jawaharlal Nehru.
The seat, which covers a significant a part of town of Prayagraj, earlier referred to as Allahabad, has a sizeable inhabitants of Kurmi caste, to which Kumar belongs, and is nearly a 100 km from Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency.
Shravan Kumar, nonetheless, stated, “It isn’t simply Phulpur. Throughout my latest UP go to, I obtained the sense that there are a lot of different seats, together with Fatehpur and Pratapgarh, the place our social gathering needs the CM to combat. They really feel it is going to create a buzz throughout the state.”
The JD(U)’s allies in Bihar appear to have little drawback.
Congress legislature social gathering chief Shakil Ahmed Khan stated, “Why not? When an individual from Gujarat can contest and win from Varanasi, then we’re so near Uttar Pradesh”.
Notably, regardless of the seat’s affiliation with Nehru, and after his dying Vijaylaxmi Pandit, Phulpur has slipped from the grip of Congress which final received it in 1984, driving the wave generated by Indira Gandhi’s assassination.
RJD spokesman Shakti Yadav, when requested about what he considered Nitish Kumar contesting from UP, stated, “If the folks of that state so want, he should. It’s a matter of pleasure for Bihar that our chief’s recognition transcends Bihar’s boundaries”.
Curiously, whereas Kumar has denied any prime ministerial ambitions, his efforts to provoke the complete opposition however, the prospects of his taking part in a “nationwide function” enthused not simply the JD(U) but additionally the RJD, which views it as deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav’s pathway to the very best seat of energy.
In the meantime, the BJP was predictably aggravated on the discuss of Kumar making a foray into UP, which not simply sends the PM to Lok Sabha and has the very best variety of seats, however can be dominated by Yogi Adityanath, seen because the social gathering’s rising star.
Chief of the opposition in Bihar meeting Vijay Kumar Sinha and BJP’s state unit chief Samrat Choudhary got here out with separate, strongly worded statements, alleging that Kumar had misplaced his recognition on his dwelling turf and would face humiliation if he moved to the adjoining state.
The 2 BJP leaders, who’ve been miffed at Kumar scoring a degree with Patna Excessive Courtroom’s thumbs as much as the caste survey ordered by his authorities, accused his social gathering of pondering by way of “caste arithmetic” in UP the place JD(U) has by no means been a drive to reckon with.