Maheshwar Hazari, a prominent Janata Dal (United) leader and the deputy speaker of the Bihar Assembly, has said that the opposition I.N.D.I. Alliance members will present Nitish Kumar as the coalition’s prime ministerial face. Hazari added that a statement to this effect is set to be issued shortly by the alliance. He was responding to queries on the preparations of the party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has all the qualities needed for the PM. Whenever the I.N.D.I. Alliance would announce the name for the Prime Minister candidate, it is going to be Nitish Kumar’s name”, Bihar’s deputy speaker said.
The three meetings convened by the opposition alliance this year did not result in the announcement of the Prime Minister candidate for the Lok Sabha elections scheduled to take place next year.
“The country’s tallest socialist leader after Rammanohar Lohiya, according to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is Nitish Kumar”, Hazari added trying to use incumbent PM Modi to prop up Nitish Kumar’s claim. The JD(U) supremo has been the chief minister of Bihar for 18 years and has served five times as a minister in the central government, per the lawmaker.
However, Nitish Kumar has said multiple times that he has no desire to become prime minister and would instead lead the opposition’s campaign in the upcoming general election. “I have said this before and I will repeat it again. I have no ambition for myself. All I want is for Opposition leaders to unite and forge ahead. This will be to the benefit of the entire country”, the Bihar CM said.
The I.N.D.I. Alliance is a political alliance of 28 parties including Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) among others and is led by the Indian National Congress. The alliance has come together in an attempt to defeat PM Narendra Modi and the BJP-led NDA alliance.