Patna sources have stated that Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar, firmly ruled himself out on Monday as a Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2019 national election, saying he hadn't "the aspiration or the ability". In the same self-deprecating vein, he also slipped in a good word for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a bitter rival with whom he has, in recent months, had a blow hot blow cold relationship.
It was stated that "The person in whom people will see potential will become the prime minister. People saw potential in Narendra Modi during the last elections, he has become the PM," Mr Kumar, 66, said. He also commented that five years before that, when PM Modi was Gujarat Chief Minister, he was not even "in the frame" for the top post.
It was stated that Mr. Kumar's name has been swirling among possible
candidates for the top job amid opposition moves to engineer a coalition of
non-BJP parties for 2019, when PM Modi seeks a second term. But today, as he
emphatically backed out, the Bihar Chief Minister commented, "I am not a
fool".
He said he was being "unnecessarily targeted" with such talk. "We are a small party. If I become the national president of my party, it does not mean that I harbor national aspirations," and throughout his career, he stressed, he had served people as MP or Union minister and as chief minister. Flanked by his ministers and Janata Dal United colleagues, he said it was difficult to say who would emerge as the man for the top job.
