Nitish Kumar rules out contesting assembly polls
January 20th, 2012 - 10:26 pm ICT by IANS
Patna, Jan 20 (IANS) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Friday said that he would continue to be a member of the Bihar legislative council and ruled out contesting assembly polls in the near future.
“It is my choice to be a member of the Bihar legislative council and I will continue to be its member. There is no question of contesting assembly polls,” Kumar said after attending the Bihar legislative council’s centenary meet at the Seminar Hall of the Patna College here.
Kumar made it clear that his party, the Janata Dal-United, also wants him to remain a member of the legislative council, and said that there was no plan to abolish the upper house. “It is all baseless talk,” he said.
There were speculations in the local media that Kumar would prefer to contest the assembly polls than renew his state legislative council membership which is to end in May.
On the other hand, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said his party, the BJP, would decide whether he would continue to be a member of the Bihar council or would contest the assembly polls.
Both Kumar and Modi have been legislators ever since they took over the reins of the state after the NDA came to power in the state November 2005.
In the last assembly polls held in 2010, both decided not to seek assembly membership.
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- BJP, JD-U widening rift threatens Bihar alliance (Roundup) - Jun 20, 2010
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- Lalu attacks Nitish over Modi handshake (Lead) - May 06, 2012
- JD-U, BJP rift widens as Nitish cancels march (Lead) - Jun 20, 2010
- Nitish Kumar must go: Bihar opposition (Lead) - Jul 22, 2010
Tags: assembly polls, bjp, council membership, deputy chief minister, janata, last assembly, legislative council, legislators, local media, modi, nda, reins, seminar hall, speculations, sushil kumar, upper house