"No Information": Congress Denies Nitish Kumar Party Leader's "Offer" Claim

The Congress has refuted JD(U) leader KC Tyagi's claim that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was offered the prime ministerial post by the INDIA bloc after the Lok Sabha election results were announced.

Congress leader KC Venugopal said that the party has no such information. "We have no such information," Mr Venugopal said while addressing a press conference.

Mr Tyagi's remarks came amid speculation that the INDIA bloc is trying to get Nitish Kumar back into the alliance in a bid to stop the NDA from forming the government for a record third term.

Mr Tyagi, though, made it clear that the JDU has rejected all the offers from the opposition and plan to work with the NDA for the next five years.

"We were hurt by the way Congress and its allies treated our leader, and had to choose a different path. Those who thought Nitish Kumar was not worthy of being the alliance's convenor are now offering him the Prime Minister's post. But the JDU has already rejected all such offers," he said.

Another JDU leader Sanjay Jha - a close aide of Nitish Kumar - also junked his party colleague KC Tyagi's claim that the INDIA bloc had offered to make the Bihar Chief Minister it's PM face.

The BJP won 240 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, but fell 32 short of the majority mark. The four allies whose support is critical for the BJP to reach the majority are N Chandrababu Naidu's TDP, which has won 16 seats, Nitish Kumar's JDU (12), Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena (7) and Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas (5).

TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and JDU's Nitish Kumar - who have emerged as kingmakers at this crucial juncture - have also given written support to PM Modi amid speculations that the Opposition leaders could approach them in a bid to stake claim, it's learnt.