By A correspondent / New Delhi
Nitish Kumar has turned down an offer for his party to join Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, he confirmed just ahead of the oath-taking ceremony today.
Mr Kumar told media persons that nobody from his party will feature in the government as he was leaving his residence in Delhi to head to Rashtrapati Bhawan where the PM was sworn in along with a council of ministers. However, he said his party, the Janata Dal United, remains a committed constituent of the NDA.
Sources close to the Bihar Chief Minister said that his party had been offered one cabinet spot but felt this was inadequate. His party’s leaders, who asked not to be named, said PM Modi phoned him today after he made his veto clear.
Mr Kumar and the BJP contested 17 seats each in Bihar in the general election that saw the PM being re-elected with a spectacular majority. The BJP-led alliance lost just one of Bihar’s 40 seats. Mr Kumar’s party was successful in 16.
The BJP on its own won 303 seats in the country, zipping easily past the half-way mark of 272, which means it could have formed the government without any allies lending their support to the party.