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New Delhi, October 29 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah has strongly rejected speculations over the leadership of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar and announced that the alliance will contest the upcoming assembly elections under the leadership of current Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Speaking at a program on TV 18 news channel on Wednesday, HM Shah said, “There is no vacancy for CM in Bihar; there is no confusion here. We are contesting the elections under the leadership of Nitish Kumar.”
The comments come amid rising political rhetoric, especially from opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav, who recently described Kumar as a “puppet” of the BJP and predicted that the saffron party would sideline him after the elections.
However, HM Shah rejected such claims and hit out at what he called the “dynastic politics” of the Grand Alliance.
He said, “Lalu ji wants his son to become CM and Sonia ji wants her son to become PM. I want to tell both of them that there is no place available for both the sons in Bihar or Delhi. There is Modi ji and in Bihar there is Nitish Kumar ji.”
HM Shah also highlighted the achievements of the “double engine” government led by PM Modi and Kumar, citing distribution of free food grains to over 85 million people and opening of 6.6 crore bank accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojana.
He credited Kumar for freeing Bihar from the grip of “jungle raj” in the last 11 years.
He said Bihar has seen tremendous progress in the last 11 years under the “double engine” government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar.
With Bihar Assembly elections scheduled to be held in two phases on November 6 and 11 and results to be declared on November 14, HM Shah’s support to Kumar appears to indicate a unified front within the NDA.
As the campaign heats up, the battle lines are being drawn between continuity and change, and at the center of the contest is Nitish Kumar’s leadership.
–IANS
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