Bihar Polls: Modi Again Keeps Mum Over Nitish as NDA's CM Face

Patna: Thousands of ruling Janata Dal-United leaders, workers and supporters were disappointed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi once again on Friday when during his election rallies in Bihar, he maintained total silence in naming incumbent Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA’s) Chief Ministerial face for the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls.

JD-U leaders and workers were hopeful and expected Modi, the main star campaigner of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA, to formally declare Nitish as the Chief Ministerial face. But Modi played a different game in his speech at election rallies by claiming that NDA, under the leadership of Nitish Kumar, “will break all previous electoral records in the polls this time” but kept mum on Nitish Kumar as the CM face.

Interestingly, there is nothing new in this. Modi has repeatedly said that NDA would contest polls under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. 

“What is stopping Modi from announcing Nitish as NDA’s CM face if there are no ifs and buts. He is definitely playing a game by not naming Nitish,” said a senior JD-U leader.
 

He said this was despite JD-U’s demand and the “dominant voice of people in favour of Nitish Kumar. “This has never happened before. Since the 2005 Assembly polls, this is the first time that NDA is not naming Nitish as its CM candidate”, the leader added.

All eyes were on Modi's first formal election rally on Friday in Bihar's Samastipur, waiting for him to name Nitish as NDA’s chief ministerial face. But this did not happen.

Modi kicked off his much-awaited election campaign for NDA from Karpoori Gram (the native village of 'Bharat Ratna' Karpoori Thakur, a socialist icon and former chief minister) in Samastipur on October 24. Nitish was present with Modi.

Incidentally, Modi only targeted the Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress, “jungle raj” and played the Hindu card by talking about Lord Ram and Sita’s close connection with the state.

Modi’s election rallies come a day after the Opposition Mahagathbandhan announced young RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as their Chief Ministerial face, and dared NDA to do so, too. NDA is reportedly under pressure from its major ally, JD-U, to declare Nitish as the Chief Minister candidate.

During his seven visits to Bihar till September this year, Modi has maintained a total silence on this issue. Top BJP leaders, Modi, Union Minister Amit Shah and party president J P Nadda, appear hesitant to declare Nitish as the NDA’s Chief Ministerial candidate. This has given strength to speculation that BJP will not project him as Chief Minister and will likely replace him with its own leader. 
 

On Thursday, senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot and Tejashwi Yadav had dared NDA to name its CM face.

On Friday, not just Modi, but Shah, Nadda and Shivraj Singh Chouhan also addressed election rallies in different Assembly seats but kept silent on the issue.

According to a political observer, the common people as well as JD-U leaders and workers were awaiting to know what Modi would say, but he reiterated that NDA would go to polls under the leadership of Nitish.

Meanwhile, sources in BJP here said Modi had chosen to launch his election campaign from Karpoori Gram to symbolise his commitment to social justice .

Karpoori Thakur, who belonged to the Nai caste (barber), which is among the Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) that constitute 36% of Bihar’s total population. It is the largest social group and comprises 112 sub-castes.

In fact, going by the recent statements by top BJP leaders in the past one year, there has been no change in party’s stand of not naming Nitish Kumar as NDA’s chief ministerial face.

Amid speculation over the likely sidelining of Nitish Kumar after elections, senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in mid-October reportedly made it clear that Kumar would not be projected as Chief Minister and the elected legislators would decide who would head the new government.

Modi and Shah have repeatedly said that NDA would go to polls under Nitish Kumar leadership, as they realise the value of Nitish’s face despite his reported deteriorating mental health and drastic fall in popularity, as revealed in some pre-poll surveys in the past nine months. 

However, political gossip has reached a crescendo over rising suspense over NDA’s chief ministerial face. Though things are not clear yet, Shah’s statement that elected legislators will decide the next Chief Minister is being seen as official now.

As per some political watchers, BJP seems to have played a “big game” this time, as for the first time JD-U and BJP are contesting an equal number of 101 seats. Never before has this happened, as JD-U has always contested more seats than BJP in the past 20 years.

A senior JD-U leader said Nitish Kumar wanted his party to contest not less than 120 of the 243 seats in the 2025 Assembly polls, and the remaining 133 seats to be divided among BJP and its other allies. But this has not materialised.

According to NDA’s seat sharing arrangements, BJP and JD-U will contest 101 seats each, LJP(R) of Union Minister Chirag Paswan will contest 29 seats and HAM of Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and RLM of former Union Minister Upender Kushwaha will contest six seats each.