BJP will fight Bihar assembly polls under Nitish Kumar's leadership: Amit Shah

Patna, Oct 17: Amid speculation over the leadership issue in Bihar, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday announced Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as the leader of the BJP-JD(U) coalition for the Assembly polls in the state slated for 2020.

"The Janata Dal (United) and the BJP will go to polls together and we will fight polls under the leadership of Nitish ji. This is absolutely clear," the BJP leader said in an interview to News18 on Wednesday.

"BJP and JD(U) are working under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and in the state they will do so under the leadership of Nitish Kumar," Shah added.

"In a coalition, there are always tiffs and they should be considered a parameter of a healthy coalition. Bas mat-bhed man-bhed mein nahi badalna chahiye [only thing is that these differences in opinion shouldn't turn into a change of hearts," he said while refuting rumors about rift between the two parties.

The speculations of a rift between the NDA in Bihar were triggered after BJP leaders failed to attend the famous Dussehra in Patna where Chief Minister Nitish Kumar shared the dais with Congress leaders.

The dais which were supposed to be occupied by Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad - who is also the local MP - Pataliputra MP Ram Kripal Yadav and state minister and local MLA Nand Kishore Yadav, were empty among others.

The development came close on the heels of a week-long spat between leaders of the BJP - in particular its firebrand Union minister and Begusarai MP Giriraj Singh - and the Janata Dal (United) which is headed by Kumar over the state government's handling of the inundation of large parts of the Bihar capital after torrential rainfall battered the city late last month.