"Nitish Kumar Told Amit Shah 2 Days Ago Not To Worry": BJP's Sushil Modi

Amit Shah called Nitish Kumar a day before the Bihar Chief Minister dumped the BJP and was assured that he had "nothing to worry about", senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi told NDTV on Wednesday, in the first admission by the party that it tried to save the alliance.

"Two days back, Amit Shah called Nitish Kumar. Nitish said there's nothing to worry about. PM [Narendra] Modi also spoke to Nitish many times in the last 1.5 years, but he never complained," Sushil Kumar Modi said. Party sources had earlier denied that there had been any such overture.

In his first avowal after taking oath as Bihar Chief Minister an eighth time, thus continuing in the chair with a change of partners, Nitish Kumar took a shot at PM Modi over the next Lok Sabha elections: "He won in 2014, but will he in 2024?"

Asked if he wants to be a PM candidate despite calling for opposition unity, he told reporters that he is "not a contender for anything". "The question to ask is if the person who came in 2014 will win in 2024," he said. Elections in Bihar are due now only in 2025, a year after the Lok Sabha contest.