BJP president J.P. Nadda has termed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar a ‘natural ally’ as the latter returned to the NDA fold on Sunday, snapping ties with the RJD and the Congress.
Addressing a press conference in Patna soon after the swearing-in of Nitish, the BJP chief asserted that the National Democratic Alliance will sweep the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar.
Nitish took oath as the chief minister for the record ninth time with the support of the BJP—the party he had dumped in 2022, accusing it of trying to influence JD(U) MLAs to rebel against him.
"Nitish ji has returned to NDA, it is a matter of happiness for us. The people of Bihar gave the mandate to NDA. JD(U) and Nitish Ji's natural alliance is NDA," Nadda said.
He said the new government headed by Nitish will make 'Ujjwal Bihar’ and that the coalition would sweep the Lok Sabha elections.
"We are confident that the NDA will sweep the Lok Sabha polls and win all the 40 seats in Bihar. We will also form the next government in the state after the assembly elections,” he said.
In the new government, Nitish will have two deputies—BJP’s Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Sinha. Some media reports even suggested that both the JD(U) and the BJP have finalised seat-sharing agreements for the Lok Sabha elections.
A political storm had been brewing in Patna for the last several days over reports of Nitish’s possible exit from the grand alliance and return to the NDA.
On Sunday morning, the 72-year-old leader resigned as the chief minister, saying "things were not working well" for him in the Mahagathbandhan and the INDIA alliance, and staked claim to form a new government.
