Nitish Kumar talked of prohibition in Pindra, near varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, where assembly elections will be held next year.
Highlights
- Prohibition promise won Nitish Kumar votes from women in Bihar
- Mr Kumar thinks it will win him support nationally too
- JD(U) wants Brand Nitish to go national as PM candidate in 2019
With the promise of an alcohol-free Bihar fetching him rich dividends in last year's assembly elections, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has rolled out the same in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.
With assembly elections due in the neighbouring state next year, Mr Kumar talked prohibition today in Pindra - a town 30 km from Varanasi, the Lok Sabha seat of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr Kumar believes making prohibition a nationwide campaign will bring big electoral benefits for the party. So of his 40-minute speech at the day-long convention of Janata Dal United, 20 minutes was devoted to prohibition and how it improved the lives of people in Bihar.
"I want to ask the BJP just one question. What is the BJP's stand on prohibition? Should there be prohibition or not?" he said adding, "People ask me how will you be prime minister. Does one enter politics only to be prime minister? I am here to serve the people."
Uttar Pradesh is key to the JD(U) strategy to make Brand Nitish national in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls of 2019. And Mr Kumar has not been coy about the possibility of him being projected as the Opposition's face to counter PM Modi in the national election.
The BJP says it is not worried. "This is the Prime Minister's constituency. Everyone wants some publicity by coming here, that's all there is to it," said Ashok Pandey, the state spokesperson of the BJP.