New Delhi: After accompanying Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in filing his nomination for Rajya Sabha election, Union Home Minister Amit Shah Thursday praised the JD(U) leader’s “golden chapter” in the state’s history and said his reputation was never tarnished.
“Nitish Kumar served as Chief Minister of Bihar from 2005 to the present. His tenure was a highly successful one. This tenure will be written as a golden chapter in Bihar’s history… In such a long career, serving as an MLA, MP, Chief Minister, and Union Minister, unke kurte pe kabhi daag nahi laga (his image was never tarnished)” Shah said in a statement in Patna.
Kumar, who announced and filed his nomination along with BJP national president Nitin Nabin on Thursday afternoon, is set to return to national politics as a Rajya Sabha MP after what Shah described as “a very long time”. Kumar’s move to the Upper House clears the way for a new Bihar chief minister, widely expected to be a BJP leader.
“He (Kumar) is once again returning to Delhi as a Rajya Sabha MP. I and all our NDA colleagues heartily welcome him,” Shah said after the process to file Kumar’s nomination papers was completed at the Bihar Legislative Assembly.
With NDA’s strength of MLAs in Bihar Assembly, Kumar is expected to be elected to Rajya Sabha with ease. Elections are due on 16 March.
Shah credited Kumar with electrifying every village and home in Bihar and ensuring that the Centre’s welfare schemes reached every citizen of the state.
“He accelerated all aspects of Bihar’s development. During his tenure, he worked to free Bihar from jungle raj. He not only connected Bihar’s roads to the villages but also improved their condition,” Shah said.
“Nitish Kumar has always championed simplicity, integrity, and the highest values of public life, which he also upheld. For 11 years under Narendra Modi’s leadership, he contributed to Bihar’s progress in every way. It was under his leadership that all the schemes launched by PM Modi reached every citizen of Bihar,” he added.
The Home Minister noted that Kumar was a prominent leader of the 1974 Jayaprakash Narayan movement and had since strived to live by JP’s principles.
Kumar, who has taken oath as Bihar chief minister a record ten times, has held the post almost continuously since 2005—barring a brief period when Jitan Ram Manjhi was installed as CM after the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
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