Mumbai, Nov 11, 2020-
Refusing to draw comparisons between Bihar and Maharashtra, the BJP’s Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday asserted that his party was committed to make Nitish Kumar the Chief Minister again, a day after poll results in the northern state were out.
“Maharashtra and Bihar are different states. It has already been decided that Nitish Kumar would be the CM there. Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an announcement to this effect and the BJP is committed to it. Nitishji will be the CM of Bihar (again),” Fadnavis said.
The statement by Fadnavis — BJP’s election incharge for Bihar — assumes significance as a similar situation had developed in Maharashtra a year ago after which its three-decade-old ally Shiv Sena broke off ties and ousted him as the CM in the western state.
It came hours after the Shiv Sena expressed doubts whether the BJP would stick to its promise of making Nitish Kumar the CM as his party Janata Dal-United failed to even cross the 50-seat tally and now stands third (43 seats) in the state after Tejashwi Yadav’s RJD (75 seats) and BJP (74 seats).
After the 2019 Maharashtra assembly polls, the Shiv Sena got lesser seats than BJP but demanded the CM’s post as per a BJP promise during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
However, after the BJP spurned the demand, the Shiv Sena broke away from the NDA to join hands with the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress and formed the Maha Vikas Aghadi with Uddhav Thackeray as the CM, stunning the BJP.
While the Shiv Sena stuck to its ground that the post of CM — irrespective of the number of number of seats it bagged — had been assured to the party, Fadnavis and the then BJP President and Union Home Minister Amit Shah countered by saying there was no such commitment. (Agency)
