Bihar polls: Nitish holds NDA meet for fostering ‘better coordination’

Patna: Aiming for a fifth consecutive term in office, Bihar’s longest-serving Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday hosted a meeting of the ruling NDA to ensure “better coordination” in the run-up to state Assembly polls due next year.

Leaders of all five NDA partners in the state, BJP, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Hindustani Awam Morcha and Rashtriya Lok Morcha, besides the JD(U) that Kumar heads, turned up at 1, Anne Marg, the Chief Minister’s official residence, on the occasion.

Emerging from the meeting that lasted for over an hour, leaders told journalists that Kumar urged the attendees to ensure that similar interactions be henceforth held regularly in all districts and assembly constituencies.

“The CM has vowed to lead the NDA towards another victory in 2025. He has also called for exposing the opposition Mahagathbandhan, stating that he felt cheated by that coalition,” state BJP president and minister Dilip Jaiswal said.

Notably, Kumar had walked over to the Mahagathbandhan in August 2022, alleging that the BJP had tried to weaken his party with the help of the then LJP chief Chirag Paswan, who had staged a revolt during the Assembly polls of 2020, causing the JD(U)’s tally to crash.

The NDA leaders remained tight-lipped over the absence of former Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras, who heads Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party and has been sidelined since the Lok Sabha polls which saw weightage being given to Paswan. However, Raju Tiwari, who is the state president of

Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), assured that the young leader’s brinkmanship was a thing of the past and lauded Kumar for “giving a clear signal to cadres of all parties, well in advance of the Assembly polls”.