No ifs and buts, Nitish Kumar will be Bihar CM even if BJP wins more seats: Amit Shah

New Delhi, Oct 18: Union home miniter Amit Shah on Saturday expressed confidence that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would win the upcoming Bihar elections hands-down and that Nitish Kumar would be the chief minister irrespective of which party in the alliance wins more seats.

In an exclusive interview to News 18, Shah reiterated that Nitish Kumar will be the next chief minister of the state after the polls.

When asked whether the BJP will stake claim for the chief ministership in Bihar if the saffron party gets more seats than the ally JD(U) headed by Nitish Kumar, he said, "There is no if or but. Nitish Kumar will be the next chief minister of Bihar. We have made a public announcement and we are committed to it."

Talking about the Lok Janshakti Party breaking away from the ruling alliance in Bihar, Shah said the party was offered adequate seats but still walked away from the alliance.

"It was their (LJP) decision, not ours," he said.

Chirag Paswan has been lauding the BJP and its top leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, while attacking JD(U) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, giving rise to speculation that he has some tacit understanding with the saffron party.

The BJP is contesting on 121 of the total 243 seats in Bihar and JD(U) on 122 seats. The JD (U) and the BJP were expected to accommodate the Hindustani Awam Morcha and the Vikassheel Insaan Party respectively, from its quota of seats.

The Bihar polls are scheduled in three phases on October 28, November 3 and November 7. The counting of votes will be done on November 10.

The home minister said there will be a change of government in West Bengal after next year''s assembly elections and a BJP government will assume power there.

"We feel we will have a determined fight in West Bengal and we will form the government," he said.

He also said that the law and order situation in West Bengal is serious and political parties like the BJP have every right to seek imposition of President''s rule there.

"However, the central government will take an appropriate decision taking into account the Constitution and on the basis of the governor's report," he said.