Team News Riveting
Patna, August 14
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushil Kumar Modi said on Sunday that JD(U) supremo and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had no standing in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“There are more powerful state leaders having bigger mandate than him (Nitish) such as TMC leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, TRS supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal,” the former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister said.
Talking to news agency PTI, Modi rejected the prospect of Nitish Kumar emerging as the Opposition’s prime ministerial candidate. He said there were bigger claimants like TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and TRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao.
The JD(U) leader’s influence was “diminishing” even in his home state Bihar, Sushil Modi claimed. Both his popularity and the mass base have declined, he added.
He asserted that BJP now enjoys the support of all sections of society and is not affected by the Mandal-Kamandal binary. “Today’s BJP is both Mandal and Kamandal. Both Mandal and Kamandal are with the party. And Prime Minister Modi represents aspirations of OBCs in the country,” Modi said.