Five months after becoming part of NDA 2 government in Bihar, chief minister Nitish Kumar has once again predicted a resounding victory for the BJP in Gujarat.
Speaking at a programme organised by a TV channel on Saturday, Kumar said there was no threat to the BJP in the Gujarat assembly polls and predicted that the party was set for a comfortable win in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state.
Kumar who joined hands with BJP in Bihar after walking out of Grand Alliance in July, said, “We must not forget that the prime minister hails from that state (Gujarat). It is a sentiment which will influence the voters’ choice. We may even see the BJP winning a higher number of seats this time than it did in the 2012 Assembly polls,” he said.
“The BJP will win comfortably. Wait till the elections are over. Then we will see what you have to say,” he said, taking an apparent dig at the media’s role in propping up and pulling down political leaders.
Kumar, who had been critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had in July predicted that Modi’s re-election in 2019 was inevitable as there was “no challenger” who could measure up to the Prime Minister.
He had also refused to accept that the Gujarat election was a semi-final for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, saying, “Today, elections are taking place in one or two states every year. It is just that lot of debate is taking place due to the media’s reach.”
{{/usCountry}}He had also refused to accept that the Gujarat election was a semi-final for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, saying, “Today, elections are taking place in one or two states every year. It is just that lot of debate is taking place due to the media’s reach.”
{{/usCountry}}He also justified that JD(U)’s switchover to the NDA fold was for Bihar’s benefit and it (the new govt) had been working excellently in the last four months.