Nitish: I do not want to be PM
The pesky issue of the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate brought fresh bitterness to both the ruling JD(U) and BJP in Bihar on Monday after a regurgitation of comments by deputy chief minister Sush-il Kumar Modi of the BJP on the unresolved matter.
Some BJP leaders in Bihar showered criticism on the deputy chief minister for his description of chief minister and JD(U) stalwart Nitish Kumar as “surely prime ministerial material” in an interview to a newspaper. While Modi, who shares great personal camaraderie with Kumar, has earlier expre-ssed similar views, his words this time left many in his party unnerved apparently due to the raging comparisons between Kumar and his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi of the BJP.
But Kumar, aware of the degenerating impact of such comparisons on the JD(U)-BJP alliance, made light of his deputy’s opinion and reiterated his unwillingness to occupy the nation’s top post. Ku-mar had pulled up a cabinet colleague from the JD(U), Bheem Singh, last week for describing him as the NDA’s most suitable prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 general elections.
“What has been said (by Sushil Modi) does not require a reaction from me,” said Kumar when journalists sought his comments. “This is his evaluation and I thank him for it. But I do not think the same way. I do not even think about it,” he added. JD(U) leaders termed Modi’s comments as “unnecessary” and declined to elaborate on it. Senior BJP leader and MLA Rameshwar Chaur-asia said: “A BJP leader must talk in the interests of the BJP. If a leader is praising someone outside the party, he must leave the BJP and join that party. I will raise this issue with Mr Gadkari when he returns from abroad.”
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