BJP should have made Sushil Modi Bihar CM after 2020 polls: Nitish Kumar

Patna, Aug 10: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday said that the BJP central leadership should have made Sushil Kumar Modi as the Chief Minister of Bihar after the 2020 Assembly polls instead of insisting that he run for another term in office.

The JD(U) leader, who snapped ties with the BJP on Tuesday and joined hands with the opposition RJD to return as the CM, made the remark as a riposte to allegations levelled against himself by Modi, his former deputy.

"He has been a dear friend. Why was he not made the CM? Had he been appointed to the post, things would not have reached this stage," he told reporters in reply to questions about Modi. Kumar has been maintaining that he was in no mood to continue after the elections in which his party fared badly but relented upon the insistence of leaders of the BJP.

The alliance was called off in keeping with a "unanimous sentiment" expressed by JD(U) leaders who accused the BJP of a "conspiracy" to obliterate the party.

Modi was replaced as the deputy CM by two less-known BJP leaders after the polls. After Modi was sent to Rajya Sabha more than a year ago, there were speculations that he would be considered for a cabinet berth at the Centre.

JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar on Wednesday took oath as Bihar chief minister for a record eighth time in a no-frills ceremony at Raj Bhavan, a day after snapping ties with the BJP-led NDA and joining hands with the RJD to form a 'Mahagathbandhan' government.

Kumar was sworn in besides RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, who is likely to be designated as his deputy. A notification is likely to be issued tonight, naming him as the deputy chief minister. Other cabinet ministers will be sworn in later once the three main alliance partners -- the JD(U), RJD and Congress -- decide on the number of berths and the legislators who will be made ministers.

Kumar is likely to retain the all-important Home portfolio, while the RJD may get most of the departments that were previously with the BJP, a highly-placed source said.

He said an in-principle agreement has been reached about the composition of the new cabinet, which is likely to have "35 members or more", drawn from Kumar's JD(U), the RJD and the Congress.