Nitish as Opposition's presidential candidate? Break with BJP first, says NCP

Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party spokesperson Nawab Malik on Tuesday said any decision on the opposition's candidate for the post of the country's next President will be taken collectively by leaders of various parties, and  Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's name could be considered only if his party Janata Dal-United snaps ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Talking to reporters in Mumbai, Malik claimed the BJP will suffer a drubbing in five poll-bound states -- Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur -- and that the saffron party will get less than 150 seats in the 403-member UP assembly.

He further said the process has been initiated to form an anti-BJP front at the national level before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, referring to Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and the latter's West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee meeting top Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders in the recent past.

The front will be created under the collective leadership of opposition parties, he said, adding that such a front cannot be formed minus the Congress.

To a query, Malik said there are "news reports of Nitish Kumar being the (opposition's) candidate for the presidential polls" due later this year.

"There cannot be a discussion on this until he (Nitish Kumar) breaks ties with the BJP. First, he should snap ties with the BJP and only then a thought can be given (to his candidature). Leaders of all (opposition) parties will then sit together and think about it,” Malik said.

The JD-U currently shares power with the BJP in Bihar.

Malik accused the BJP of triggering communal violence in Uttar Pradesh in 1993 when it was in power there, and said  people of that state had dislodged the party because of it.

The history will repeat itself in Uttar Pradesh after 30 years when the Assembly poll results are out next month, the NCP leader said.

”People brought the BJP (to power) after 25 years in Uttar Pradesh (in 2017). The people are fed up with its politics during the past five years. The BJP will win less than 150 seats in Uttar Pradesh,” Malik claimed.