"Has High Opinion...": Sushil Modi's Jab At Nitish Kumar Amid INDIA, PM Buzz

Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal set off a flurry of speculation Wednesday after naming Mallikarjun Kharge as INDIA's PM face, should it win next year's general election.

Senior BJP leader Sushil Modi on Wednesday ripped into Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and any aspirations he may have about becoming Prime Minister, declaring them over after the INDIA bloc seemed to back Congress boss Mallikarjun Kharge for the post, should it win next year's election.

Mr Modi, once Nitish Kumar's deputy and right-hand man, told NDTV his former boss had too high an opinion of his leadership and influence, pointing out that even RJD boss Lalu Prasad Yadav - one of Nitish Kumar's oldest colleagues - had not proposed his name as a potential Prime Minister.

"See... Nitish Kumar has a wrong opinion of himself. His party people go around telling everyone how he should be PM, but INDIA leader didn't take his name when discussing candidates. Mamata chose Kharge. Lalu Yadav was there, he could have put Nitish Kumar's name but didn't," Mr Modi said.