Nawab Malik, the spokesperson of the National Congress Party (NCP) and a minister in the Maharashtra government said that the Opposition contender in the upcoming presidential elections will be decided by a consensus amongst the Opposition parties, and that Nitish Kumar could be considered only after he breaks away from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), PTI reported on Tuesday, 22 February.
Kumar is currently the chief minister of Bihar, where his party Janata Dal (United) (JDU) is allied with the BJP.
Malik claimed that the BJP would be defeated in the ongoing state elections, and will fail to cross the 150 mark in Uttar Pradesh.
A joint Opposition front to take on the BJP in 2024 national elections, he added, was already in the works, hinting at the meeting of the chief ministers of West Bengal and Telangana in the recent past.
"There cannot be a discussion on this until he (Nitish Kumar) breaks ties with the BJP. First, he should snap ties with the BJP and only then a thought can be given (to his candidature). Leaders of all (opposition) parties will then sit together and think about it,” Malik stressed when questioned on the probability of Nitish Kumar being the Opposition's choice for the post of the next president.
Malik added that the BJP would be thrown out of power in Uttar Pradesh, for the people "were fed up of their politics in the past five years."
"History will repeat itself in Uttar Pradesh," he said, referring to the ouster of BJP in state after the communal violence in 1993.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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