BJP's doors shut to Nitish Kumar; party not ready for his return to NDA: Sushil Modi

Reiterating Union Home Minister Amit Shah's assertion that the BJP would not partner with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U), BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi, on Sunday, said the saffron party's doors are shut to Kumar.

He was reacting to Union minister Ramadas Athawale's recent remark that the JD(U) chief can return to NDA anytime. Lamenting JD(S)'s exit from NDA despite Kumar having good equations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Athawale had urged Kumar to skip the next meeting of non-BJP bloc, INDIA, to be held in Mumbai next month.

Sushil Kumar Modi said the BJP is not ready for Kumar's return even if the latter wants to come back.

Chiding Athawale, the BJP MP said he is neither a BJP spokesperson nor a spokesperson for the NDA and added that "he is the leader of a party and a Union minister so this must be his personal opinion."

BJP has shut all its doors to Kumar, Modi said, adding, "he has become a burden, I doubt if RJD will be able to bear it for long. His capability to transfer votes has ended."

He claimed that if not for PM Modi, Kumar would not have won 44 seats in the Bihar assembly elections.

"In politics, you are important if you have the power of votes. Otherwise, you hold no importance," Sushil Kumar Modi said.

Athawale had claimed that Kumar seems to be not happy in the INDIA camp.

He was unhappy with the acronym INDIA but Rahul Gandhi prevailed, said Athawale, referring to speculations in a section of the media that emerged after the new name was announced at the meeting in Bengaluru earlier this month.

Kumar himself dismissed such speculations and asserted that the new name of the opposition coalition was decided unanimously.

—With agency inputs