Breaking Views: What is Nitish Kumar’s Political Strategy?

Downplaying his comments, Kumar said that he was not in the race to become the PM in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD-U was the first among the opposition parties to lend support to the NDA’s Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind.

(Photo: The Quint)

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD-U was the first among the opposition parties to lend support to the NDA's Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, a former Bihar Governor. This came as a major blow to the Opposition.

Days after that, he purportedly said during a party meeting that the Congress alone was to blame for the current mess in the opposition ranks.

Downplaying his comments, Kumar on Monday said that he was not in the race to become the Prime Minister in the 2019 Lok Sabha election and that the state's ruling Grand Alliance was very much intact.

Describing his Janata Dal-United (JD-U) as “a small party”, Nitish Kumar told the media here: “Hamari party choti hai aur hum PM pad ke race mein katai shamil nahi hai.” (Ours is a small party and I am not in the race to be the PM.)

He said all was well in the 'Mahagathbandhan' - Bihar's Grand Alliance of JD-U, the RJD and the Congress led by him.

But only time will tell if all is actually well between JD-U and RJD.

Cameraperson: Abhay Sharma
Video Editor: Sunil Goswami