Patna, Aug 3 (IANS): After JD(U) leaders from Uttar Pradesh suggested that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar should contest 2024 Lok Sabha election from Phulpur constituency, the BJP on Thursday said that he has failed in his home state and will not succeed in Uttar Pradesh also.
Cabinet minister of Bihar government and JD(U)'s in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, Sharwan Kumar said that some party leaders from UP were wishing that Nitish Kumar contest Lok Sabha polls from Phulpur.
Besides Phulpur, the JD(U) leaders also suggested that Kumar should contest from Ambedkar Nagar, Pratapgarh or Fatehpur Lok Sabha constituencies as well.
Sharwan Kumar, however, also said that Nitish Kumar himself has rebuffed this suggestion.
“The news coming into public domain that Nitish Kumar may contest Lok Sabha poll from Uttar Pradesh is absolutely false. Party has not decided yet and there is no preparation for Nitish Kumar to contest election from Uttar Pradesh. Some JD(U) leaders of Uttar Pradesh demanded that Nitish Kumar contest election from Phulpur, Ambedkarnagar, Pratapgarh or Fatehpur,” Sharwan Kumar said.
Meanwhile, BJP leaders sharply reacted to this. Arvind Kumar Singh, the senior leader of JD(U) said: “Nitish Kumar can either contest from Bihar or any other part of Uttar Pradesh, in any case he will not win the election. I challenge him that he will not obtain even 11 votes from Phulpur. He is dreaming about going to Delhi through Uttar Pradesh and this will not work for him. He will fail miserably.”
“Nitish Kumar Ji is sitting in the lap of Lalu Prasad Yadav in Bihar and if he contests the election from Uttar Pradesh, he will sit in the lap of Akhilesh Yadav. In both the cases, BJP would not get affected. Nitish Kumar always does dependence politics. In Bihar, he is dependent on the RJD and he is trying to reach Delhi via UP with the help of Akhilesh Yadav,” said Nikhil Anand, BJP national general secretary of OBC wing and state spokesperson.
Phulpur seat has 19.75 lakh total voters and around 4 lakh voters belong to Kurmi caste. If Nitish Kumar wants to contest from Phulpur, the Kurmi voters may polarize in favour of him. Phulpur is a place where Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and V.P. Singh contested elections.