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Nitish Kumar meets PM Modi after big BJP upset in Bihar's Bankipur bypoll
The JD(U) is a key ally of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and the two parties run a coalition government in Bihar.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday met former Bihar chief minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar, a day after the BJP failed to retain its stronghold of Bankipur in the bypoll, the first election after Kumar stepped down as CM. The seat earlier held by BJP’s national president Nitin Nabin has been wrested by Jan Suraaj Party’s Prashant Kishor.
According to people aware of the details, the agenda for the first meeting between the PM and Kumar, after he became a Rajya Sabha MP, was largely confined to “Bihar’s development, the roadmap for the future of the state and the alliance.”
The JD(U) is a key ally of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and the two parties run a coalition government in Bihar.
“The meeting was about issues related to the development of Bihar. The former CM discussed some issues that needed attention and sought support for the state…it was largely about development and infrastructure enhancement,” said a person privy to the meeting of the two leaders.
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The person quoted above said “some political issues” were discussed but declined to comment on whether the bypoll results were specifically addressed by the two leaders.
While the PM’s office put out a photograph of the meeting, Kumar who was accompanied by JD(U) working president and MP Sanjay Jha and Union minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh in a post on ‘X’ said, “Today, I had the courtesy of a meeting with the Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji in his office chamber at Parliament House...”
Post the meeting, a BJP leader responding to a question on the implications of the bypoll for the alliance said, “Both the BJP and the JD(U) will assess the result of the bypoll although the Jan Suraaj winning the seat has more grave implications for the Rashtriya Janata Dal whose candidate (Rekha Kumari) forfeited her security deposit (for failing to win at least one-sixth of the total votes polled)...”
While the BJP on Monday attributed the loss to a raft of issues, the JD(U) for its part has been largely silent.
On Tuesday, a JD(U) leader said the emergence of a new outfit in Bihar’s polity dominated by caste will ring an alarm for the established parties particularly the BJP, which banks on a wider coalition of castes and does not have a stronghold in terms of electorate. He said the party will also have to “consider the acceptability” of CM Samrat Choudhary among the electorate and its own votebank.
