There will be no showdown between CM Narendra Modi and his counterpart in Bihar, Nitish Kumar as the latter on Friday said that he wouldn’t be campaigning in Gujarat for elections slated later this year.
Kumar said he had canvassed for JD(U) in Gujarat in 2007, but wouldn’t be able to make it for the campaigning for the upcoming polls.
“I’m busy with Adhikar Rally in Patna on November 4, immediately followed by a week-long goodwill visit to Pakistan in the second week,” said Kumar to reporters after the cabinet meeting in Patna.
Kumar said the winter session of Bihar Assembly is scheduled from November 29, which is another reason he will not be campaigning in Gujarat.
Relations between Modi and Kumar have been anything, but friendly over the recent years as the Bihar CM has maintained a safe distance from his Gujarat counterpart. Kumar has criticised Modi for the 2002 communal riots on various occasions, and is opposed to idea of Modi’s nomination as BJP’s prime ministerial candidate in 2014 parliamentary elections.
JD (U) president Sharad Yadav and other party leaders would campaign for the party in the elections. The party plans to field candidates from 75 seats in the upcoming polls, sharply higher than it contested in the previous elections. The party had won one seat in 2007.
Answering a question on his Pakistan visit, Kumar said it is a goodwill trip. He will be leading a 12-member delegation of parliamentarians and officials to the neighbouring country from November 9-16 by invitation of chief ministers of Punjab and Sind.
(With agencies in Patna)
