New Delhi: Janata Dal (United) has dismissed claim made by Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) president Upendra Kushwaha that Nitish Kumar had confided in him about relinquishing the chief minister’s chair after 2020 Assembly elections. The ruling party said that he would remain in the post as the state still “needs him”.

JD (U) leaders said Kumar was chief minister by people’s choice and the state needs his services for a longer duration. “The CM’s chair is no sweetmeat,” JD (U) spokesperson Ajay Alok said. “Nitish Kumar was chosen by virtue of people’s mandate and he is successfully continuing on the chair because he has been delivering and living up to people’s expectations.”

“Nitish shall continue to remain CM even after 2020. Bihar needs him,” said senior JD (U) leader Maheswar Hazari, while former minister and party general secretary Shyam Rajak said: “Both Nitish and Kushwaha may be brothers in arms, but Nitish Kumar’s popularity remains unmatched.”

At a party event in Patna Wednesday to mark Sardar Patel’s birth anniversary, Kushwaha made the startling claim that Nitish Kumar had confided in him that he doesn’t want to continue as chief minister beyond 2020 when the state gets to vote for a new government.

Kushwaha, whose RLSP is a part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with two MPs and two MLAs in Bihar, has a rather rocky relationship with Nitish Kumar as he has been frequently targeting the state government on the law and order and education scenario. He had even organised a protest against the condition of education in the state

The RLSP leader, NDA sources say, is apparently peeved over the manner in which he has been ‘sidelined’ ever since JD (U) came close to the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2017 after walking out of the grand alliance with the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal. “That is why, the RLSP leader has now started questioning why his party was not accommodated in the Bihar ministry,” said a NDA leader, wishing anonymity.