Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared on Friday that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by Nitish Kumar, will shatter all previous records and secure victory in the Bihar Assembly election scheduled for next month.
This marks the inaugural occasion on which the Prime Minister has explicitly referenced contesting the election with the Janata Dal United (JDU) leader serving as the prominent face of the ruling alliance's campaign, though this does not inherently guarantee that the seasoned politician will continue in the position if the BJP-JDU coalition manages to hold onto power.
The statement comes in the wake of a pointed criticism from the opposition Mahagathbandhan alliance regarding the ruling parties' seeming hesitation to designate a chief ministerial candidate. On Thursday, the Mahagathbandhan officially announced Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav as its designated presumptive Chief Minister.
In conjunction with this announcement, the opposition directed a barb at the NDA, with Ashok Gehlot—who had been urgently dispatched to Bihar to address leadership disputes between his party and the RJD—stating, "I want to ask Amit Shah... our leader is Tejashwi Yadav. Now they should confirm who is their Chief Minister face."
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Tejashwi Yadav, who previously held the role of deputy to Nitish Kumar on two separate occasions, also chimed in, asserting that a comment made by Home Minister Amit Shah the previous week—indicating that NDA leaders will "sit together and decide" on the new chief minister should the alliance emerge victorious—suggests that Nitish Kumar's tenure is approaching its end.
Speculation surrounding the future of the JDU leader has intensified in the lead-up to this election, as the opposition have repeatedly mocked him for his allies' reluctance to officially declare him as their leader.
Separately, during the rally in Samastipur—which is set to vote on November 6 as part of the election's first phase—the Prime Minister additionally commended the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for its developmental initiatives throughout Bihar over the preceding five years, proclaiming, "There is not a single corner where the BJP isn't carrying out development work."
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