BJP brass to decide stand on Bihar CM face: Sanjay Jaiswal

NEW DELHI: Bihar BJP’s newly appointed president, Sanjay Jaiswal, said the central leadership and parliamentary board would decide on the party stand over the NDA face for chief minister in the 2020 assembly polls.

Refuting any difference within the party over the demand from some quarters that it should claim the CM’s position, currently held by Nitish Kumar of Janata Dal (U), Jaiswal said the BJP was a worker-based party and that it was not a divided house in Bihar.

“I want to say that at present we are moving very cordially. And, the things which are not in my hands, I won’t comment,” Jaiswal told ET, in reply to a question over differing opinions within his party over the projection of Nitish Kumar as the CM face in 2020. The BJP and JDU are the main NDA constituents in Bihar.


A few days ago, BJP MLC Sanjay Paswan said Nitish Kumar should move to the Centre and the BJP should get the CM post. However, BJP’s senior leader and deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi tweeted in favour of CM Nitish Kumar.

On demand from a section of leaders within his party for a National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Bihar as well, Jaiswal, a medical doctor, said Assam prepared its NRC following a court order and that the government would make the right decision at an appropriate time on this matter.

Regarding his party’s attempts to woo voters of the most backward castes (MBCs), he said the BJP had accommodated every section of the society. “The BJP has always given representation to every section of the society and it will continue to do so in future also. Prem Kumarji, who is from an MBC, is our party’s leader in the state assembly,” he said. Incidentally, MBC voters form a major support base for BJP’s ally, JDU.

On the challenges in his new role as the president of the Bihar BJP, Jaiswal said the party had already achieved the target of expanding its base to every booth in the state. “We already have 500 members and 200 workers at every booth in the state. Now my duty is to get them activated,” he said.