Nitish Kumar was offered PM-ship by INDIA bloc but party has decided not to look back: JD(U)

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, June 8

Ahead of the swearing in of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government on Sunday, key ally of the ruling block Janata Dal (United) has claimed that the opposition INDIA bloc leaders made an offer of Prime Ministership to their supremo and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Speaking to the media persons in the midst of hectic negotiations around the contours of the new union council of ministers, Janata Dal (United) general secretary, KC Tyagi, on Saturday said, “Proposals to the extent of the offer of Prime Ministership to JDU president, Nitish Kumar have also come from the opposition INDIA alliance leaders. These are the same people who had problems making Nitish Kumar the convenor of their block. Some INDIA leaders even wanted to speak to Nitish Kumar in this regard, but the party decided, that it is not going to look back “

Tyagi said the JDU will stay in alliance with the BJP-led NDA, as clarified by Nitish Kumar on Friday while endorsing the candidature of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister and NDA leader in the Parliament.

Tyagi said Nitish Kumar was the architect of the opposition INDIA alliance and was humiliated by that camp.

Tyagi recalled how Rahul Gandhi vetoed the declaration of Nitish Kumar, as the convenor of INDIA at a crucial meeting of the alliance, immediately after which Kumar quit the block and rejoined NDA.

Gandhi had said the proposal needs vetting by TMC’s Mamata Banerjee who was not in that meeting.

Meanwhile, the JDU is learnt to be keen on the cabinet portfolio of railway ministry, which the BJP is unlikely to part with given its importance to Prime Minister Modi’s infrastructure push in the country.

Nitish may also want advancement of Bihar polls to reap advantage of the ground support his party got in Lok Sabha elections besides financial aid for the state.

Meetings are currently underway between top BJP brass and the Prime Minister to finalise the portfolios for the swearing-in of the new government on Sunday at 7:15 pm at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Nearly 9,000 people are on the guest list for the mega event, including several heads of neighbouring countries, rat miners who helped save lives of workers in the Silkyara tunnel of Uttarkashi last year, sanitation workers, and labourers engaged with flagship projects of the government, including those who built the new Parliament building and are involved with aspirational projects such as Vande Bharat trains, key infrastructure projects in the country among others.