JD(U) not joining Narendra Modi cabinet: Nitish Kumar

Patna: Dismissing speculations about JD(U)’s inclusion in the Narendra Modi cabinet at the Centre, Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, on Thursday said that, “there is no basis to such claims. No talks have taken place.”

His statement comes a day after JD(U) national spokesperson, K.C. Tyagi, spoke about joining the cabinet and said that the party may consider the proposal if there was an invitation from Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah.

“We may welcome the move if Modi and party chief, Amit Shah, take the initiative for the party's proportionate representation in the government,” Tyagi had said in New Delhi on Wednesday, shortly after Kumar addressed his party’s national council following his re-election as party president.

He had also said that the JD(U) had given a proportionate representation to the BJP in the state government despite his party not being included in the first Modi cabinet.

A rift had emerged after the Lok Sabha polls when Shah offered the JD(U) only one cabinet berth as ‘symbolic representation.’ Sources said that Kumar had demanded three seats in the government.

In order to ease the tension between both allies, Shah in a statement earlier this month said that the NDA in Bihar would contest the Assembly polls under Kumar's leadership. JD(U) had returned to the NDA fold after breaking ties with the RJD-Congress alliance in July 2017.