'Want to unite everyone': Nitish Kumar speaks on opposition unity, denies PM ambitions

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said he would want to unite the opposition against the BJP juggernaut for the 2024 general elections. However, he downplayed speculation that he would want to be the prime ministerial face of the opposition.

"We would want to unite everyone. I am doing positive work. I am receiving a lot of phone calls, I am doing everything. I will do everything but first I will do my work here," he was quoted as saying by the news agency ANI.

Kumar said he has no thoughts about being the prime ministerial face.

"I say this with folded hands, I have no such thoughts...My work is to work for everyone. I will make an effort to see that all the Opposition parties work together. If they do, it will be good..," he added.

In a surprising move, Nitish Kumar dumped his ally BJP and joined hands with the RJD, with whom he had ended the alliance in 2017 over corruption charges.

Tejashwi Yadav, the de-facto RJD chief, become the Deputy Chief Minister.

The BJP claimed Nitish Kumar wanted to be the Vice President of the country and had approached the Central leadership for the same -- a charge vehemently denied by Kumar.

Sushil Kumar Modi, a BJP leader considered relatively closer to Nitish Kumar, said the leader dumped the BJP as he has national ambition.

Kumar had denied Modi's allegations.

"You heard a man (Sushil Modi) say that I wanted to be Vice President. What a joke! It's bogus. I had no such desire. Did they forget how much our party supported them? Let them talk against me so that they get a position again," he had said. 

With inputs from ANI