'Saturated' Nitish Kumar wants to step down as CM, claims ally Upendra Kushwaha

Bihar Chief Minister and JDU Chief Nitish Kumar

Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha on October 31 said the post of Bihar’s chief minister may soon fall vacant and a new candidate would be required, NDTV reported.

Kushwaha said that incumbent Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has reached a "saturation point in power and he wants to step down".

However, Kushwaha added that it does not mean he is asking for Nitish’s resignation. No one can force him to exit against his wishes, he said.

Speaking to his party workers in Patna, Kushwaha said that no one knows Nitish better than him.

Kushwaha claimed that during one of their interactions, Nitish had told him that after being in power for 15 years, he does not want to continue any longer.

Nitish or his party the Janata Dal (United) have not yet commented on this.

In October, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah and Nitish had announced that the two parties would contest an equal number of seats in the state during the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Reports have also suggested that the two parties might contest 17 seats each with allies Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) fighting on four and two seats, respectively.

There has been some friction between the allies over the seat sharing formula.

BJP, LJP and RLSP had contested 30, 7 and 3 seats, respectively, out of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar in 2014 and won 22, 6 and 3.

However, JD(U)’s entry into the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2017 has meant that a new arrangement has to be worked out for the general election.