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Supporters protest amid speculation over Nitish Kumar’s Rajya Sabha nomination
The supporters raised slogans in Kumar’s support and tried to stop the vehicles of JD(U) legislators from entering his residence
Angry supporters gathered outside chief minister Nitish Kumar’s residence in Patna, alleging a conspiracy to remove him from Bihar’s political scene amid speculation about his Rajya Sabha nomination, even as his Janata Dal (United) or JDU has not announced his candidature to Parliament’s Upper House. They raised slogans in Kumar’s support and tried to stop the vehicles of JD(U) legislators from entering the residence.
“We only want to see Nitish Kumar as the chief minister. We are against Nitish Kumar going to the Rajya Sabha. Bihar voted in his name. We want his son Nishant to go to the Rajya Sabha,” said JD(U) leader Rajeev Ranjan Patel, who led the supporters.
Another JD(U) supporter alleged a conspiracy to remove Kumar as the chief minister. He said JD(U) workers will take to the streets against it. “We would not allow him to go to the Rajya Sabha.”
Patel said they went door-to-door seeking votes for Kumar just months back. “If he is no longer the chief minister, where will the people of Bihar go? You can hold elections today and make whoever you want the chief minister... The workers’ only demand is that Nishant be sent to the Rajya Sabha... If someone wants to change the chief minister, if they feel they have the power to change the leadership, if they have that much power, then they should hold elections and get a majority,” said Patel.
JD(U) lawmaker Sanjay Singh echoed Patel. “If he has made the decision that he wants to go to Rajya Sabha, then we cannot oppose it, but the public of Bihar wants him to continue as the chief minister,” said Singh.
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 the JD(U)’s matter. “They will make the decision. Nitish Kumar’s decision is paramount,” said Bihar minister and BJP leader Ramkripal Yadav. “The NDA is united, and all are working together to run the government. In the last 21 years, Bihar has progressed and developed under Nitish Kumar’s leadership.”
JD(U) leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh said that Kumar has made Bihar. “Kumar will make 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 has done in Bihar. He has transformed Bihar.”
