Did INDIA bloc offer Nitish Kumar PM post? Congress leader KC Venugopal says ’we have…
Did INDIA bloc offer Nitish Kumar PM post? Congress leader KC Venugopal says ’we have…
Congress leader KC Venugopal said on Saturday that he has no information about the INDIA bloc offering Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar the prime minister post after the Lok Sabha Election Results 2024.
At a press conference on Saturday, Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and KC Venugopal were asked about JD(U) leader KC Tyagi’s claim that “Nitish Kumar was offered PM post by the INDIA bloc”.
Reacting to KC Tyagi’s statement, Venugopal said, “We have no such information.”
In an interview with NDTV, KC Tyagi said, “…Those who thought Nitish Kumar was not worthy of being the alliance’s convenor are now offering him the Prime Minister’s post. But the JD(U) has already rejected all such offers.”
His statement came amid speculation that the Opposition’s INDIA bloc had approached Nitish Kumar in a bid to stop the BJP-led NDA from forming the government for the third consecutive term. Nitish was earlier part of the INDIA bloc. He snapped ties with the coalition earlier this year and joined hands with the BJP just ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.
“We were hurt by the way Congress and its allies treated our leader, and had to choose a different path,” Tyagi told NDTV. He said Nitish Kumar’s speech supporting Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi “has put to rest all the rumours doing the rounds”.
Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), which won 12 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, played a key role in forming the coalition government, led by Narendra Modi, for the third time at the Centre. The BJP, which failed to cross the majority mark in the 543-member Lok Sabha, received major support from Kumar’s JD(U) and Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP for forming the government.
The NDA won over 290 Lok Sabha seats. With this, PM-designate Narendra Modi met President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday and stake claim to form the new government. He was earlier elected the leader of the alliance in the NDA Parliamentary meeting.
“The President will administer the Oath of Office and Secrecy to the Prime Minister and other members of the Union Council of Ministers on June 09, 2024 at 07:15 pm (1345 GMT),” an official statement said.
