Nitish Kumar Not In Race For PM Post, His Party Declares

Earlier this month, senior JD(U) leader Upendra Kushwaha -- after being named the leader of the JD(U) parliamentary party -- had called Mr Nitish Kumar "PM material".

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has all the qualities to become the Prime Minister but he is not in the race for the post, his party, the Janata Dal United said this evening after a meeting of its National Council in Patna. Asked about the matter, Mr Kumar said called it "nonsense". "I neither want nor expect (this)," he said.Senior JD(U) leader KC Tyagi, who briefed the media after the meeting, underscored it. "Nitish Kumar is not a claimant for the post of the Prime Minister. We are in the NDA and our candidate for the Prime Minister's post is Narendra Modi... Although Nitish Kumar has all the qualities required in a Prime Minister," said Mr Tyagi. Earlier this month, senior JD(U) leader Upendra Kushwaha -- after being named the leader of the JD(U) parliamentary party -- had called Mr Nitish Kumar "PM material". "People made Narendra Modi PM today and he's doing good work. But there are others in the country who have the potential to become PM. Of them is Nitish Kumar. He should be called PM-material and it's not about challenging PM Modi," Mr Kushwaha had said. Mr Kumar, however, had refuted it soon after, saying "There's nothing like this. Why should I be (PM Material)? I am not interested in all these things".