Nitish Kumar surprises party with remark, 'What happens to JD(U), if I die tomorrow?'

PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday left his party functionaries surprised and worried as he remarked "What happens to the party, if I die tomorrow?" while addressing the state executive committee meeting.

At the end of the meeting, held at the CM's official residence here on Sunday, a group of party's woman leaders went near Nitish (who is also the JD(U) national president) and urged him not to use such words for himself.

As some of the woman leaders sympathetically inquired as to why he had to use term like 'death' for himself, Nitish once again became emotional saying, "Kaun Janta Hai Kal Kya Hoga? (Who knows what will happen tomorrow?)" But he hastened to add that the remark was made casually, there was nothing serious.

Soon after these conversations, the CM joined a luncheon with the woman leaders. Prominent among those present were state's social welfare minister Kumari Manju Verma, JD(U) spokeswomen Prof Suheli Mehta and Bharti Mehta.

But the party's seniors are aghast over the CM's "If I die tomorrow" statement mainly because Nitish, they argued, never talked like this. Most of the JD(U) seniors whom TOI approached said it was for the first time that Nitish talked about his death and it was not once, but twice in the same meeting.

"As long as I am alive, the decision to enforce total prohibition in Bihar could not be reversed or annulled. If any one has problem with my decision of total prohibition, they should kill me. Let them kill me. I am not going to roll back the decision," Nitish told the meeting of executive body members. Besides executive body members, heads of the party's all cells and district presidents were also invited to attend the crucial meeting which decided how to strengthened organisation across the state.

"I have been associated with Nitish Kumar Ji for a long time and heard thousands of his close-door and public addresses. I don't recall him ever referring to his death," JD(U) national general secretary Sanjay Jha told TOI on Tuesday.

"By talking so, Nitish Ji basically wanted to remind the party leaders about the hard work he did in nurturing the organisation. He wants the party workers not to forget the basic ideology of JD(U) and remain committed towards the cause of poor and downtrodden," Jha said, adding "Bihar is still in the phase of transition. It is in the stage of taking a leapfrog in the field of development. The state still needs a visionary leader like Nitish Ji for a long time."

However, JD(U) Bihar unit president Bashishtha Narayan Singh said in view of the good health which Bihar CM enjoys, people of the state don't require to worry about who after Nitish for at least next ten years. "Nitish Ji's comment should be taken in the right perspective. He basically asked all the party leaders to be capable and be honest towards the cause for which JD(U) have been struggling," Singh told a section of media.