Former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi has attacked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar amid reports that the latter may run for the Phulpur seat in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections claiming he would be unable to save his election deposit as his defeat is guaranteed
Sushil Modi’s comments came a day after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav offered Kumar a seat in the Lok Sabha from UP’s Phulpur, reports news agency ANI.Â
“Akhilesh Yadav wants that Nitish ji visit Uttar Pradesh and forfeit his election deposit.” Everyone knows that Akhilesh Yadav lacks a candidate in his own state. In the last Lok Sabha elections, he formed an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which ultimately fell apart, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won with 62 seats,” Sushil Kumar told ANI.
“If Nitish Kumar fails to save a deposit in Phulpur, he should return to Bihar as a candidate who lost his deposit in the election.” “I dare Nitish Kumar not to save a deposit in the election and to leave Phulpur and run for office anywhere in Uttar Pradesh,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which is in alliance with the Janata Dal United JD(U), has welcomed the idea of Nitish contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh.
“Nitish Kumar can run for Lok Sabha elections from any seat in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, or Jharkhand, RJD spokesperson Shakti Singh Yadav said. Nitish Kumar has also received backing from Akhilesh Yadav. All political parties with similar ideologies support Nitish Kumar’s efforts to unite the opposition.”
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Sushil Modi further claimed that Nitish Kumar is now unable to handle the situation in Bihar. “The situation is out of his hands; the crime cannot be halted because Nitish Kumar is unconcerned about becoming Bihar’s Prime Minister. What does this incidence suggest? In Bihar, such incidents occur on a daily basis “.
Earlier, JD(U) national president Lalan Singh said that it was not only Phulpur from where Nitish had been offered to fight the election, but also Ambedkarnagar and Mirzapur.
“Nothing exists for acceptance or denial. The decision on whether Nitish Kumar would run for office in the Lok Sabha will be made at the appropriate time, although he has been given the opportunity to run from both Ambedkar Nagar and Mirzapur. Party members are urging him to run in the elections from Uttar Pradesh as a consequence of his efforts to bring the opposition parties together”, Lalan Singh said.
Phulpur in Allahabad is just about 100 kms from Varanasi, the Lok Sabha seat of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and if Nitish Kumar decides to contest from this seat, the political dynamics in Uttar Pradesh in 2024 elections may change.
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