After Nitish’s call for anti-BJP front, Cong says it’s ready

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Nitish, who had so far confined himself to Bihar, now seems to be pitching for a bigger role in national politics after becoming the JD(U) chief. He recently took the party’s reins from Sharad Yadav, who was at the helm since 2006.

Meanwhile, sources said while Congress was open to the idea of working with Nitish, the party was not ready to give up its position as the nucleus of an anti-BJP front. Congress, according to sources, will like Nitish to support it as the lead challenger to the BJP in 2019, and back Rahul Gandhi’s bid for prime ministership.

“We want this country to be secular… We are very happy that Nitish Kumar, who has sort of worked with the BJP very closely, has realised it now. We are very happy that finally all political parties have come around and accepted the Congress party’s stand that we can’t have anything to do with communal forces like the BJP,” said Digvijaya.

Asked if Nitish would emerge as an alternative to BJP and Congress, Singh said, “Every person has the right to be accepted as national leader… it’s for the people to decide.”