When Will BJP Fight Polls In Bihar Alone? What Amit Shah Told NDTV

The political battle is heating up in Bihar as the assembly elections are a few days away. Elections to the 243-member assembly will be held in two phases- November 6 and November 11. The counting of votes will be done on November 14.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who took part in NDTV's Bihar Powerplay Conclave in Patna on Saturday, was asked about whether the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would ever contest elections solo in Bihar.

Here is what he told NDTV's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Editor-In-Chief Rahul Kanwal.

"Not Important How Politically Powerful We Become"

Shah said, "We won 325 seats in Uttar Pradesh during the 2017 elections. Despite these numbers, we didn't fight alone in the state's 2022 elections. Our party has a policy- it is not important how politically powerful the BJP becomes. During elections, it is important that we work with our allies and develop a state... We believe in the politics of moving forward with everyone."

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Shah, the former national president of the BJP, added, "Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, we won over 270 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, but we formed the central government with our NDA (National Democratic Alliance) allies. We did the same after we won in 2019 and in 2024."

On being asked about the presence of a PAN Bihar politician from the BJP, Shah told Rahul Kanwal, "The BJP doesn't make a politician. It can only prepare its members. The public has the authority to make a party member an elected politician."

"This time too, Bihar's public will decide who will be the BJP's state PAN leader. We have a lot of good youth leaders...," the Union home minister added.

"Will Fight Polls Under Nitish's Leadership"

During Saturday's Bihar Powerplay Conclave in Patna, Amit Shah reiterated that the NDA is fighting the upcoming elections under the leadership of Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) leader Nitish Kumar.

"I would like to specify this again. We are fighting the elections under Nitish Kumar's leadership. There is no confusion about this," he said.

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On being asked who the chief minister will be if the NDA wins, Shah said, "There is a constitutional procedure of choosing the chief minister. All MLAs (Members of the Legislative Assembly) would decide the chief minister, and this will happen only after the elections are over."

The Union home minister expressed confidence that the NDA would win 160 seats in Bihar this time.