Talks on change in leadership of Bihar NDA far from over

The differences between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ally Janata Dal-United (JD-U) over the chief ministerial candidate in the next Assembly elections in Bihar seem to be far from over, with BJP leaders continuing to up the ante on the issue.

A day after Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi asserted that Nitish Kumar will be the Chief Minister's face of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the next Assembly election, BJP MLA Mithilesh Tiwari on Thursday termed his opinion as "personal".

"Only the opinions of Nityanand Rai, Bhupender Yadav, and BJP president Amit Shah's statement on the NDA's chief ministerial candidate should be considered as final," he said.

Senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Sanjay Paswan had earlier said that Nitish Kumar should step down as Chief Minister to make way for the BJP, followed by CP Thakur saying that the chief ministerial candidate of the NDA will be decided by top NDA leaders.

Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi was in Mongolia on an official trip when the talk of change in leadership in the ruling NDA in Bihar started.

After returning home, he tweeted: "Nitish Kumar is the Captain of NDA in Bihar and will remain its Captain in next Assembly elections in 2020 also. When Captain is hitting four and six and defeating rivals where is the question of any change."

Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav also jumped into the fray on Thursday saying Modi was "Nitish Kumar's man".

"Sushil Modi does not have decision-making power. BJP should think, it is the biggest political party in the world and it does not have a face in Bihar," he told reporters here.

He further said: "Sushil Modi is not in the BJP, he is on Nitish Kumar's side. He is Nitish's man. Everybody knows this. Even BJP leaders say this. That's why BJP does not have a face in Bihar."

Meanwhile, Sanjay Paswan met Union Minster Giriraj Singh, who is considered anti-Nitish Kumar, in New Delhi on Thursday, sparking speculations that a faction of the BJP may be working for change in the leadership.