Angry supporters gathered outside Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s residence in Patna, alleging a conspiracy to keep him out of Bihar’s political scene amid speculation about his candidacy for the Rajya Sabha, even as neither the Janata Dal (United) nor the JDU has announced his candidacy for the upper house of Parliament. They raised slogans in support of Kumar and tried to prevent the lawmakers’ vehicles from entering the headquarters.
“We just want to see Nitish Kumar as Prime Minister. We are against Nitish Kumar going to Rajya Sabha. Bihar voted in his name. We just want to see Nitish Kumar as Prime Minister,” said JD(U) leader Rajiv Ranjan Patel, who led the supporters.
Another JD(U) supporter alleged a conspiracy to remove Kumar from the post of chief minister. He said JD(U) workers would take to the streets against him. “We will not let him go to Rajya Sabha.”
Patil said they went door to door to seek votes for Kumar a few months ago. “If the chief minister does not return, where will the people of Bihar go? You can hold elections today and appoint whoever you want as chief minister… The workers’ only demand is to send Nishant to the Rajya Sabha… If someone wants to change the prime minister, if he feels he has the power to change the leadership, if he has that much power, then he should hold elections and get a majority,” Patel said.
JD(U) legislator Sanjay Singh Patel echoed. “If he has taken the decision that he wants to go to Rajya Sabha, we cannot oppose him, but the Bihar public wants him to continue as chief minister,” Singh said.
A section of JD(U) legislators and some ministers are also believed to be unhappy with the move to send Kumar to the Rajya Sabha.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called it JD(U). “They will take the decision. Nitish Kumar’s decision is of utmost importance,” said Ramkripal Yadav, Bihar minister and BJP leader. “The NDA is united, everyone is working together to run the government. In the last 21 years, Bihar has progressed and developed under the leadership of Nitish Kumar.”
JD(U) leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh said Kumar made Bihar. “Kumar will take the decision. It is his party. He will go wherever he wants. It does not matter what we want. It is about what he wants. No one can even imagine what Nitish Kumar did in Bihar. He transformed Bihar,” he said.
