Bihar, UP people want Nitish Kumar to be PM candidate of INDIA bloc: Bihar minister

Ballia (UP): People from states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh want Nitish Kumar to be the Prime Ministerial candidate of the INDIA bloc, Bihar Minister and JD (U) leader Sharvan Kumar said on Saturday. However, Kumar himself does not aspire to become the PM nominee or the alliance coordinator, he added.

The Bihar minister's remarks came days before the third meeting of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) in Mumbai later this month. More than two dozen opposition parties have formed the INDIA bloc to take on the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Asked if Nitish Kumar would be projected as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the INDIA coalition, the Bihar minister said, "Nitish Kumar is a worthy candidate for the post of Prime Minister. People from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and different states of the country are demanding that Nitish Kumar be made the Prime Ministerial candidate of the INDIA alliance," he told reporters here.

He added Nitish Kumar himself neither aspires to become the Prime Ministerial candidate of the INDIA alliance nor its coordinator. "His only desire is to defeat the NDA," the Minister added. Nitish Kumar, the Bihar Chief Minister, and JD (U) supremo, convened the first meeting of the INDIA bloc in Patna in June. The third meeting is scheduled for August 31 and September 1.

On the demand for Nitish Kumar to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh, Shravan Kumar said the Bihar Chief Minister has not expressed any such desire so far and the party, too, has not taken any decision in this matter. Shravan Kumar is Bihar's Rural Development Minister and is in charge of the JD (U) Uttar Pradesh unit.

Earlier, senior JD (U) leader Dhananjay Singh while pitching for opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, had said party workers in Uttar Pradesh wanted Nitish Kumar to contest the elections from the state's Phulpur constituency."The party unit also wants Nitish Kumar to contest from Phulpur," Singh added. (PTI)