Will contest Bihar election under Nitish’s leadership but BJP parliamentary board will decide CM’s name, says Bihar BJP chief Dilip Jaiswal

Bihar BJP chief Dilip Jaiswal on Friday (February 28, 2025) said the party’s parliamentary board will decide the chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Assembly election in the State as per the procedures of the party.

He, however, pointed out that there should be no confusion that the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would contest the election under the leadership of Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar.

On the other hand, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said Mr. Kumar would not become the Chief Minister again. He said the JD(U) would collapse soon as most of its MLAs had entered into secret deals with the BJP.

The election to the 243-seat Bihar Assembly is due later this year.

On the first day of the Budget session on Friday (February 28, 2025), when the media asked Mr. Jaiswal about the chief ministerial face for the election, he said, “The CM face will be decided at the parliamentary board meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party.”

On February 25, Mr. Kumar’s son Nishant Kumar said the NDA should declare his father the chief ministerial candidate ahead of the Assembly election.

After the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bihar, there has been apprehension among the JD(U) leaders that Mr. Modi had not uttered a word about Mr. Kumar leading the State again. Mr. Modi only called him ladla (beloved) CM of Bihar on the stage.

After some time, when the media asked Mr. Jaiswal the reason behind “not accepting” Mr. Kumar as Chief Minister in 2025, Mr. Jaiswal said, “I am saying every day in the NDA workers’ conference as well that ‘2025, Nitish again’ is our slogan. After this slogan, there is no room for any kind of question, the leadership under which we (NDA) are going to contest the election in Bihar is none other than Nitish Kumar’s leadership.”

Mr. Jaiswal, in a bid to correct himself, stressed that he was only describing the procedures under which the Chief Minister’s name is selected at the BJP Parliamentary Board meeting.

On the remark by Mr. Kumar’s son , Mr. Jaiswal said, “I don’t want to comment what his son is saying, I have already made a statement. I cannot comment on his statement.”

No vision, says Tejashwi

Speaking to the media on the Assembly premises, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said this would be Mr. Kumar’s last tenure as the Chief Minister. “Now his time is over as the people of Bihar have given him 20 years. It is not a small time, if Bihar is the poorest even after 20 years, then who is responsible for it? He does not have any vision nor any roadmap for the progress of Bihar,” Mr. Yadav said.

Mr. Yadav added, “The command of JD(U) has been given to the BJP and RSS people. Most of the JD(U) MLAs have done dealings with the BJP, and the JD(U) is going to collapse soon. The BJP wants to hijack the JD(U) and it is waiting for the right time. All the constitutional institutions are in the pocket of the BJP, and it is misusing them.”

Read Comments

Adblock test (Why?)