Rashtriya Lok Samata Party chief Upendra Kushwaha on Wednesday dropped a bombshell after he claimed that Nitish Kumar does not want to continue after 2020 assembly elections.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

Kushwaha made the claim after addressing his party workers in Patna.

The Union Minister reportedly said that Nitish Kumar had confided in him that he doesn’t want to continue as chief minister beyond 2020 when the state gets to vote for a new government.

"Nitish Ji is satisfied and saturated when it comes to CM's chair but people will misquote my statement. The people of Bihar will decide who will be CM and not the political parties," Kushwaha said.

However, the Union Minister also said that he does not mean that he is asking for Kumar's resignation. No one can force him to exit against his wishes, he said.

The RLSP chief, whose meeting with RJD's Tejashwi Yadav last week sparked speculation over his future course of action, said he wanted a 'respectable' number of seats to fight in the state. 

Kushwaha also made it clear that a final seat-sharing deal has not been clinched yet but dropped hints to suggest he may remain part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), LJP and RLSP had contested 30, seven and three seats of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar in 2014 and won 22, six and three of them respectively.

However, the entry of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) into the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) last year meant that a new arrangement is being worked out for the Lok Sabha polls due in 2019.

BJP chief Amit Shah had announced last week that the BJP and JD(U) will fight on equal number of seats in the state.