Bihar CM Nitish Kumar hits out at Sushil Modi: 'What a joke! BOGUS, had no desire to become V-P'

BJP's Sushil Modi had suggested that the fallout between his party and Nitish Kumar`s JD(U) could be linked to the Bihar chief minister`s desire to become the country`s vice president.

PATNA: Newly-appointed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday hit out at BJP leader Sushil Modi for claiming that the Janata Dal-United leader wanted to become the country's Vice-President, calling it a “joke.”

“You heard a man (Sushil Modi) say that I wanted to be Vice President. What a joke! It is bogus. I had no such desire. Did they forget how much did our party support them in Pres & VP polls?... Let them keep talking against me so that they get a position again, the Bihar CM said while talking to reporters.

#WATCH | "You heard a man (Sushil Modi) say that I wanted to be Vice President. What a joke! It's bogus. I had no such desire. Did they forget how much did our party support in Pres-VP polls?..Let them talk against me so that they get a position again," says Bihar CM Nitish Kumar pic.twitter.com/sj9Q7lqvbh — ANI (@ANI) August 11, 2022

The remarks from Kumar came a day after Sushil Modi suggested that the fallout between his party and Nitish Kumar`s JD(U) could be linked to the Bihar chief minister`s desire to become the country`s vice president. "Nitish wanted to become Vice President of India. Many JDU senior leaders sounded BJP Ministers if it is possible," Sushil Kumar Modi said in a tweet. 

Nitish wanted to become Vice President of India .Many JDU senior leaders sounded BJP Ministers if it is possible.@ANI @ABPNews @ZeeBiharNews @News18India — Sushil Kumar Modi (@SushilModi) August 10, 2022

It may be recalled that the BJP-led NDA had chosen former West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar as its vice presidential candidate. Dhankhar defeated Margarat Alva of the opposition to ascend to the top post. 

On Wednesday, Nitish Kumar was sworn in as Bihar Chief Minister again after parting ways with the BJP and joining the RJD-led Grand Alliance to form government in the state.

Kumar parted ways with the BJP alleging that the party was trying to break the JD(U) and joined hands with the political opponents RJD in the Mahagathbandhan on Tuesday. 

Speculation was rife regarding his future with suggestions of his `national ambitions` doing rounds in the political sphere. The BJP has alleged that by breaking the alliance and joining hands with the RJD, Nitish Kumar had disrespected the mandate given by the people.

Former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had questioned the change of stance by the JD(U) leader while also accusing him of siding with "corruption and Congressism". Prasad also asked if Kumar`s politics which was around "non-Congressism", had finished, adding that it was the BJP that made him a big leader.

The remarks of the BJP leader came hours before the swearing-in ceremony of Nitish Kumar as the Bihar Chief Minister for the 8th time. However, RJD leader Manoj Jha called the move a "ghar wapasi of 2017-2020 mandate".