BJP to back Nitish even after polls: Bihar Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary

'The BJP is comfortable with Nitish Kumar, who has led the NDA in Bihar since 1996. So Nitish was (the leader) yesterday, he is so today and will remain so tomorrow,' the former BJP state chief said.

Patna: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary has asserted that the BJP will back CM Nitish Kumar for another term in office, rubbishing speculations that the NDA could push for a new face after the assembly polls due later this year.

In a freewheeling conversation with PTI here, Choudhary also said the possible entry of Kumar's son Nishant in politics was their "personal" matter and an "internal" affair of the JD(U), even as he dismissed Tejashwi Yadav, the NDA's principal challenger in the state, as a "mere appointee" of RJD president Lalu Prasad.

"The BJP is comfortable with Nitish Kumar, who has led the NDA in Bihar since 1996. So Nitish was (the leader) yesterday, he is so today and will remain so tomorrow," said the former state BJP chief.

Asked about speculations that 47-year-old Nishant, who has so far stayed away from public life, may enter politics in the near future, Choudhary replied, "It is a personal decision of Nitish ji and an internal matter of the JD(U). Whatever they decide, the BJP will be with them as an alliance partner." The deputy CM also made light of the buzz generated by his predecessor Tejashwi Yadav, the current leader of the opposition, through a number of populist promises, claiming "he is just an appointee of his father Lalu Prasad. The day Lalu ji names someone else, say Tej Pratap Yadav or Misa Bharti, as his successor, nobody will even take note of Tejashwi".