'I am not PM material': Nitish Kumar on the pitch raised at JD(U) meeting

PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday strongly rubbished the comments made by some of the JD(U) leaders of him being a ‘PM material’ .

“It is all rubbish. Please do not discuss these things. When a party meeting takes place, the participants speak whatever comes to their mind," Nitish said when asked for his reaction to the comments made by some of his party leaders.

"Was our party meeting convened for this purpose? The party meeting was convened for ratifying the election of JD(U) president, mandatory approval to the recent amendment in the party’s constitution and some other agenda. The issue of caste-based census was also discussed at the meeting,” he added.

During the JD(U)’s national council meeting held in Patna on July 29, party’s newly nominated national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh had said that “No people or political party should have problem if any political worker says that CM Nitish Kumar has all qualities of becoming the prime minister and our CM is a ‘PM material.’

Lalan had also said, “Our leader Nitish Kumar has all qualities of becoming a prime minister, but he is not a candidate for the post of PM. There is a difference between ‘having all qualities of PM’ and ‘being a candidate for the post of PM’. Right now, our CM is not a candidate for the post of PM.”

“If anyone speaks ‘something’ in a party meeting, it does not mean that it is the party’s formal decision. Please excuse me on this issue of PM material,” Nitish said with folded hands.

On being asked whether he got any response from PM Narendra Modi on the Bihar delegation’s demand for a caste-based census across the country, Nitish said, “No, we have so far not received any response (from the PM office) over the matter.”

“We (the delegation) said all our arguments before the PM during our meeting. The decision has to be taken by them. What kind of decision they will take we have no information in this regard,” Nitish said.

When asked how long would he wait for a response from the PM, Nitish said, “We have been waiting till date. The census (2021) has not yet started. If the census begins, our suggestion is that it should be carried out on caste-basis. You know that now people of other states have also started demanding caste-wise census.”

source: Times of India