PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) on Monday said it will stay with the National Democratic Alliance, with the ruling bloc leading in a majority of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state. According to trends available by the Election Commission around noon, the JD(U) is leading on more seats than its alliance partner BJP.
“We’re going to stay with the NDA, Nitish Kumar understands what coalition means; the opposition underestimated Nitish Kumar,” JD(U) leader Neeraj Kumar told CNN-News18.
JD(U) minister Zama Khan said Nitish Kumar’s decision will be supreme as he has always “thought for the people of Bihar”. “Whatever our leader decides we follow and respect his move. Let the results come out. Nitish Kumar has always thought for the people of Bihar and his decision will be supreme.”
“We are firmly with the NDA. We will form the government at the Centre,” said another JD(U) minister Madan Sahani.
The Mahagathbandhan led by Tejashwi Yadav’s RJD, which is part of the opposition INDIA bloc, showed it was leading on only seven seats in the state. Despite Nitish Kumar switching alliances twice in the last five years, exit polls had shown that the NDA may sweep Bihar winning more than 30 out of a total 40 seats. In 2019, too, the NDA swept the state with 39 seats.
Nitish returned to the NDA fold barely five months ago even though he was instrumental, along with other opposition leaders like TMC boss Mamata Banerjee, in stitching up the INDIA bloc.
As of now, trends show that the JD(U) is ahead of rivals in 14 out of 16 seats it contested. The BJP, which contested 17 seats, is leading in 11 while junior ally Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) is ahead in all the five in its kitty, including Hajipur, where its president Chirag Paswan established a lead of about 24,000 votes.
