Senior BJP leader Narendra Modi with Bihar CM and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar during the NDA parliamentary party meeting at Samvidhan Sadan, in New Delhi, Friday, June 7, 2024. BJP National President J.P. Nadda and TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu are also seen.
Credit: PTI Photo
A day before Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony as Prime Minister for the third time, JD(U) has claimed that I.N.D.I.A. bloc leaders offered Nitish Kumar the post of PM if he would join the opposition alliance and help them form the government.
Talking about the party’s decision to leave I.N.D.I.A. bloc to join the NDA during Lok Sabha 2024 elections, JD(U) General Secretary KC Tyagi told PTI that the I.N.D.I.A. leaders were unwilling to make Nitish convenor of the bloc, but approached him with the PM post only after the NDA won simple majority in the elections.
He also accused Arvind Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee of hatching a "conspiracy" by "recommending Mallikarjun Kharge’s name for the post of Prime Minister when it had been decided that there will be no PM face".
“All the regional partners were in favour of making Nitish Kumar the convenor but in a conspiracy, Arvind Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee recommended Mallikarjun Kharge’s name for the post of Prime Minister when it had been decided that there will be no PM face. A senior Congress leader raised questions on Nitish Kumar becoming the convenor... facing such humiliation was not acceptable to our rank and file. We understood their intention and JD(U) broke off its relations with them and joined the NDA. After the elections, those leaders of I.N.D.I. alliance who did not want Nitish Kumar to become the convenor offered him the post of Prime Minister. We have phone records attesting to this." Tyagi told PTI.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi is set to take oath on Sunday for a third straight term, equalling the feat of first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, amid hectic parleys involving BJP leadership and allies over the share of berths of different constituents of the National Democratic Alliance in the new government.
Senior BJP leaders such as Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh besides party president J P Nadda have been consulting the allies, including Telugu Desam Party's N Chandrababu Naidu, JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar and Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde, to finalise their share of representation in the government.
There is a view that heavyweight portfolios like home, finance, defence and external affairs besides education and culture, two ministries with strong ideological hues, will be kept by the BJP, while its allies can get anywhere between five to eight cabinet berths.
(With PTI inputs)
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