After row, Sushil Modi supports Nitish as ‘captain’ in Bihar polls

PATNA: Senior BJP leader and Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday dismissed former Union minister Sanjay Paswan’s suggestion that chief minister Nitish Kumar should make way for a leader from the saffron party to lead the state government.

“@Nitishkumar is the Captain of NDA in Bihar & will remain its Captain in next assembly elections in 2020 also. When Captain is hitting 4 & 6 & defeating rivals by inning where is the Q of any change,” Sushil Modi tweeted.

The NDA had won 39 out of 40 seats in the April-may LS polls.

Paswan, currently a member of the Bihar legislative council, had on Monday ruffled the Janata Dal (United), the BJP’S coalition partner and ally with his suggestion that Kumar “should now focus on central politics as people support PM’S decisions and vote for him and not for Nitish model”.

JD (U) national general secretary Shyam Rajak hit back, terming the BJP MLC’S statement as “faltu” [useless]. He said the PM Modi himself had spoken highly of Kumar’s social and developmental initiatives.

BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand, said that the party has formed the government under Nitish Kumar’s leadership for the development of the state. “There is no question or dispute on the decision of the central leadership. Airing public opinion or personal views is entirely different from official stand,” he said.

The JD (U)-BJP standoff, however, gave the opposition an opportunity to attack the alliance. Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav tweeted, “Is this not true that honourable Nitish Kumar got votes in the name of PM Modi without releasing his party’s manifesto and got 16 of his party leaders elected as MPS [in the 2019 LS polls]…is it not true that he has been supporting the BJP on every Bill?..then how is he different.”

The standoff between the two important NDA allies has been on the rise ever since JD (U) president turned down “one seat offer” for joining the Union ministry

Meanwhile, Union minister and Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan said the NDA would win the state elections. He, however, refused to get drawn into the state leadership issue.