Patna: Maharashtra minister and NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik on Tuesday said any decision on the opposition's candidate for the post of the country's next President will be taken collectively by leaders of various parties, and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's name could be considered only if his party JD(U) snaps ties with the BJP.
Nawab Malik reaction came after Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao's meeting Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday. After their meeting there are speculations that both leader had a discussion over projection Nitish Kumar as presidential candidate.
In between all the Bihar Chief Minister and JDU leader Nitish Kumar On Tuesday himself cleared the dirt over the speculations and responded, "I have no idea like that in my mind." More recently, a meeting between Kumar and his former second in command, Prashant Kishor had fuelled intense speculation. "Is my relationship with Prashant Kishor only from today? There is no special meaning behind the meeting," Kumar had countered last week.
An arch rival of Nitesh Kumar and elder son of Lalu Yadav, Tej Pratap Yadav reacting on the speculations attacked Kumar and said " Nitish Kumar has a serious allegation of killing Sitaram Singh and in such a situation, a person having allegations of murder cannot be worthy of the President's post." Spokesperson of Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Chandan Singh said "we had already seen how Nitish Kumar had vowed that he will not go with the Bharatiya Janata Party, but in 2020 Bihar Assembly elections he become CM with the blessings of same BJP, and now again he is ready to betray BJP."
The last presidential election was won by NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind by a thumping 702,044 votes. Kovind defeated UPA's candidate Meira Kumar by more than 3 lakh electoral votes. The impending President and Vice President election is bound to happen by the middle of this year.
Read: Nitish Kumar laughs off 'vendetta' allegations, says Lalu's aide filed cases
