PATNA: JD(U)’s Muslim
face
and MLC Gulam Rasool Balyawi on Thursday said CM
Nitish Kumar should be declared NDA’s prime ministerial face in case the BJP fails to secure majority in the
Lok Sabha
on its own.
“If a senior BJP leader feels that his party may not secure majority on its own, the NDA should declare Nitish Kumar as its
PM
face,” Balyami told TOI while reacting to BJP general secretary Ram Madhav’s recent statement to a news agency.
Balyawi said, “JD(U) may be a small party compared to the BJP, but our leader Nitish Kumar is a big name and a big secular face in the country. If the BJP fails short of majority, there is no harm in declaring Nitish as NDA’s prime ministerial face.”
Balyawi also claimed that in
Bihar the NDA was getting votes in the name of development works done by Nitish Kumar. What Balyawi meant to say, according to political pundits, was that even non-NDA parties would support the NDA if it failed to gain majority if Nitish was projected as the PM face of the alliance.
Three days ago, Madhav had told a news agency that the saffron party might not secure majority on its own.
Shiv Sena, the BJP’s ally in Maharashtra, had also echoed the BJP leader’s view a day after his statement, saying that it could be difficult for the saffron party to form the government at the Centre on its own. Sena leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut had told media persons in Mumbai that the next government at the Centre would be an NDA government, where the allies would have a larger role.
Balyawi’s statement, however, invited sharp reaction from the BJP in Bihar. BJP MLA Nitin Navin said at a time when all NDA leaders, including Nitish, were seeking votes to make Narendra Modi the country’s PM once again, Baliyawi’s statement does not hold any relevance.
“The NDA is contesting the
Lok Sabha elections
in the name of Narendra Modi. It is true that Nitish is a prominent face in Bihar, but the NDA’s prime ministerial face is only Modi. Even Nitish is seeking votes for making Modi the country’s PM for the second time,” BJP spokesperson Prem Ranjan Patel said.