BJP leader Samrat Choudhary. File.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Samrat Choudhary, the newly appointed BJP State unit president has fastened the belt for the upcoming Lok Sabha election and Assembly election due in 2024 and 2025 respectively. While speaking to The Hindu on Friday, a day after his elevation from the post of leader of opposition in Bihar legislative council Mr. Choudhary asserted that his only goal is to win all 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar and form the government in State .
Fresh from a meeting with party national president J.P. Nadda in New Delhi on Friday, Mr. Choudhary said his priority will be to install a BJP government in the State by gaining a majority in the 243-member Assembly.
Dismissing the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) as a fading force, he said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has become irrelevant and should retire from politics. “Nitish Kumar is almost finished and very few votes are left with Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal. The Mahagathbandhan is no longer in the competition,” Mr. Choudhary said.
“Nitish Kumar ji has been serving Bihar for a long time and now a time has come to retire because he has become irrelevant. That’s the sign of a mature politician. I don’t have any personal animosity with Nitish ji. The people of Bihar had also made Lalu Prasad ji as the Chief Minister and BJP always played a significant role in sending both of them on top post,“ Mr. Choudhary said.
The Leader of the Opposition in Bihar Legislative Council, Mr. Chaudhary’s elevation to the top post in the party comes barely eight years after he joined it. He previously had ties with both the RJD and Mr. Kumar’s Janata Dal (United).
Asked about many senior leaders eyeing this post but he grabbed it before them, Mr. Choudhary said, “It is due to the blessing of the dedicated party workers and leaders that I have been appointed to this post. I have been working in BJP for the past eight years performing different roles.”
There are few examples in which the leaders of non-BJP background have been given top posts by the party. One of the leaders is Arjun Munda, after quitting Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and joining BJP, who was made the Chief Minister within two years itself. Even Yashwant Sinha was made State president of Bihar BJP after one year of joining the party.
His induction as the new state head is seen as a move to consolidate the Kushwaha (a non-Yadav OBC group) vote bank, which has traditionally allied with Mr. Kumar’s JD(U). The latest development also raises a question mark on the importance for the BJP of Upendra Kushwaha, who recently floated his Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal (RLJD) after quitting the JD(U).
Asked about the future of the RLJD leader with the BJP, Mr. Choudhary said, “Upendra ji is my big brother and as far as the BJP’s relationship with him is concerned, only the central leadership can decide. Whatever decision is taken by the top brass will be accepted by all.”
