No challenge to Modi in 2024, says Kushwaha after meeting Shah

Former JD(U) leader Upendra Kushwaha, who met union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday, has said he sees “no challenge” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Talking to reporters at the Patna airport after he returned from Delhi on Friday, Kushwaha also mocked Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s efforts to achieve “opposition unity”, saying only those parties were with the JD(U) supremo with whom he had an alliance in the state.

“There is no challenge in front of Narendra Modi in 2024. What is new in Nitish Kumar’s efforts to unite the opposition?” he said.

Asked as to what transpired during his conversation with Shah on Thursday evening, he said, “It is obvious that if there has been a meeting, then something must have transpired. You all are free to speculate. I will disclose only as much as I deem proper.”

Former Bihar BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal, who was also present at the 45-minute meeting, said it was a courtesy call.

Earlier this year, Kushwaha, a former union minister, had quit Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) following months of public posturing and veiled attacks on his leader and floated a new outfit — the Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal.

The BJP has been trying to reach out to its former allies in Bihar such as Kushwaha and Chirag Paswan of Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) since JD(U) quit the NDA last year and formed the government in the state in alliance with Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress.