Panchkula (Haryana): Home Minister Amit Shah has announced that the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) will contest the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar alone under the leadership of Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.

Saini took over from Manohar Lal Khattar, who had served as the state's chief minister since 2014, in March.

After failing to secure a majority in the 2019 Assembly polls, the BJP forged an alliance with the Jannayak Janta Party, and appointed Dushyant Chautala as the deputy chief minister.

The alliance was called off following a fall out over seat sharing in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing BJP leaders and workers after a meeting of the party's extended state executive in Panchkula on Saturday, Shah said the party does not need crutches to win the Haryana polls.

Encouraging the party workers to prepare for a solo fight, Shah said the party would form a government with full majority.

The BJP's tally in Haryana has been halved in this year's Lok Sabha elections.

Shah told the workers that the party would earn the trust of voters in Haryana under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nayab Singh Saini.

Nayab Singh Saini, 54, holds significant sway in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) community and was a Lok Sabha MP before assuming the state's top leadership role.

Khattar is now a Union Minister. He attended the party meeting, along with Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is the BJP's election in-charge for Haryana, and co-incharge Biplab Kumar Deb, among other officials.