The Grand Alliance against Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP in the 2019 elections seems destined for a vacancy at the top with Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) National President Nitish Kumar on Monday emphatically denying any possibility of his projection as the Alliance’s PM face.

The Opposition is currently holding wide-ranging discussions on the upcoming Presidential polls. The idea, as discussed on multiple political platforms, is to treat the Presidential polls as a dry run for collaboration among parties opposed to the BJP to forge a Grand Alliance in 2019 General Elections.

On the specific issue of the Presidential polls, the Bihar Chief Minister said the BJP should try to build a consensus on the Presidential candidate by talking to all parties, and favoured a second term for Pranab Mukherjee.

“The re-election of Mukherjee with consensus will set a good precedent”. The JD(U), then part of the BJP-led NDA, had voted for Mukherjee, the UPA candidate, in the Presidential elections in 2012.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee arrived in Delhi on Monday morning to discuss the issue of the Presidential polls. Mamata is expected to meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday afternoon. She is also reported to be planning to meet Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Kejriwal, so far, as been a solo player, not sharing platforms with either the communists, the Congress or the socialists, who are the main drivers of the campaign to forge a Grand Alliance.

Although the Alliance itself is an idea for the future, there are already speculations about who will lead it, with the Bihar Chief Minister being the most widely discussed candidate for the job. But while he seemed supportive of forging the Alliance, Kumar seemed totally against his projection as PM.

“I am unnecessarily being targeted. We are a small party. I am not a fool... If I become the National President of my party, it does not mean that I harbour national aspirations (of becoming the PM),” Kumar told reporters on the sidelines of ‘Lok Samvad’ programme in Patna.

Asked whether he has the capability to lead a non-BJP alternative, Kumar said: “I neither have any aspiration nor the ability to become the PM.”

The JD(U) president said it was difficult to say as to who will emerge the PM candidate in 2019.

However, Kumar made a cryptic reference to who is best suited to lead the Alliance, maintaining that people would choose the leader with the desired potential.

“The person in whom people will see potential will become the Prime Minister. People saw potential in Narendra Modi during last elections; he has become the PM,” Kumar said, adding that Modi, was not even in the frame to become the PM five years ago.