Nitish gets new offers to join secular alliance

CONGRESS, OTHER PARTIES AGGRESSIVELY WOOING BIHAR CM

Time has now come for the chief minister to reconsider his decision and return to the secular alliance.”

Sadanand Singh | Congress leader

Amid mounting tensions between two ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners — the Janata Dal United (JD-U) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — over the ongoing communal unrest in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is being constantly wooed by the opposition once again.

In the past three days, Kumar who heads the ruling JD-U, has received offers from some top opposition leaders to return to the Grand Alliance which he headed before joining the NDA in July last year, adding a fresh twist to the growing political developments in the state.

The Congress has been aggressively wooing Kumar who is said to be extremely annoyed with the BJP, whose leaders have been accused of stoking communal tension.

“The BJP has been constantly trying to disturb communal harmony in the state and it’s time for Kumar to take a hard decision to save Bihar,” Bihar Congress president Kaukab Qadari told journalists.

He urged the chief minister to quit the “communal forces” and join the secular grouping.

‘Bihar is burning’

Another top Congress leader, Sadanand Singh, who heads the party lawmakers in the Bihar assembly, also extended an open invitation to the chief minister to take a decision about returning the secular alliance in the better interest of the people of Bihar.

“Bihar is burning in a fire of communal violence but the government is not taking action against rioters under pressures from the BJP,” Congress Legislature Party leader Sadanand Singh alleged.

He said while police havdnot arrested the BJP leader who was main accused in the Bhagalpur communal violence, another BJP leader who was arrested in connection with the Aurangabad violence had fled from police custody, which has earned a very bad name for the state

“Time has now come for the chief minister to reconsider his decision and return to the secular alliance,” he said.

Another constituent of the GA, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) also called on the chief minister to return to his old home.

“Nitish Kumar has to take a quick decision since Bihar is burning,” HAM chief Jitan Ram Manjhi said.

He added there is nothing like permanent friends or foes in politics.

Manjhi’s party broke away from the NDA and joined the GA only last month.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, considered very close to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad, also extended an invitation to the chief minister to join the previous alliance.