None can challenge Modi, says Nitish MANDATE NOT FOR JD(U)-BJP PACT: SHARAD

Had to walk out of alliance with RJD, says Bihar CM

Bihar Chief Nitish Kumar who broke ties with the grand secular alliance last week said that no person or political party in the country has the ability to compete with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“There is no political party or a leader who has the ability to compete with Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said during a press conference here on Monday.

The Chief Minister’s reaction on the Prime Ministerial issue came after he was asked about his national ambition in 2019 general election.

Ruling himself out of the race Mr. Kumar said, “Mine is a regional party and is confined to Bihar only and as far as my national ambition is concerned I have already held several key portfolios when Atal Behari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister”.

Interestingly Mr Nitish had snapped ties with the BJP after Narendra Modi was nominated as NDA’s prime ministerial candidate in 2013. During the formation of People started asking questions on the zero tolerance policy of the state after CBI filed a corruption case against the family including Tejaswi. I just asked them to give a public clarification but the whole family kept dodging the issue — grand secular alliance in 2015, Mr Kumar had said he had joined hands with secular parties like RJD and Congress to weaken the communal forces.

Mr Kumar was speaking for the first time after he dumped the grand secular alliance over corruption charges against RJD Chief Lalu Yadav and his son Tejaswi Yadav who was also deputy Chief Minister.

Mr Nitish said that he had no option but to walk out of the grand secular alliance as remaining in it would have meant compromising with corruption.

On the issue of secularism, Mr Kumar said that he doesn’t need a certificate from any political party or leaders. New Delhi, July 31: Breaking his silence on his party’s alliance with the BJP, JD(U) veteran Sharad Yadav on Monday said people’s mandate was not for it, and termed the disintegration of Bihar’s Grand Alliance “unpleasant” and “unfortunate”.

“The situation is very unpleasant to us... It is unfortunate that the coalition has been broken. People’s mandate was not for it,” Yadav told reporters outside Parliament.

The Rajya Sabha member has met a number of opposition leaders since Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar walked out of the 3-party Grand Alliance, which also included the Congress, and joined the NDA camp.

He has met top leaders from the Congress and the Left, fuelling speculation that he may sever his association with the party he had founded along with Kumar.

— PTI NAYEAR AZAD | DC