The suspense over who will be the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate in the Bihar Assembly polls deepened on Tuesday, with the front-runner, Sushil Kumar Modi, contesting the statement of election in-charge Ananth Kumar that the party would fight the elections on the planks of “development and good governance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi”. “Both Lalu Prasad and [Chief Minister] Nitish Kumar are the face of Jungle Raj in Bihar and people would give them a fitting reply by voting for development and good governance under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” the Union Minister said soon after reaching Patna.
Mr. Sushil Kumar Modi immediately contested the statement. “He has never said there will be no CM candidate … His statement was misconstrued by the media,” he said.
Since Mr. Narendra Modi was the party’s tallest leader and the Prime Minister, the party “will fight every election in his name and with his poster”, he told presspersons. “Who will be the chief ministerial candidate will be announced at an appropriate time.”
The BJP is divided into camps backing Mr. Sushil Kumar Modi and opposing him. On Tuesday, Union Minister of State for Skill Development Rajiv Pratap Rudy said in Chapra that the BJP had “no dearth of leaders to become Chief Minister and the party will declare its chief ministerial candidate at an opportune time, but not on the advice of Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad.”
BJP MP from Buxar Ashwani Choubey, who is opposed to Mr. Sushil Kumar Modi, said the BJP would contest the polls under the leadership of Mr. Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah. Earlier, the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party, a BJP ally, had said its chief and Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha should be declared the NDA’s chief ministerial candidate.
