BJP-JD(U) alliance intact, says Shah after meeting with Nitish
Ending months of speculation over rift in the NDA camp, BJP national president Amit Shah said on Thursday that the alliance with the JD (U) was intact and that the combine would bag all the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state during the 2019 general elections.
Shah’s statement came at a meeting of heads of the Shakti Kendras at Gyan Bhawan in the state capital, soon after his breakfast meeting with Bihar chief minister and JD (U) national president Nitish Kumar.
“Stop salivating. We know how to manage our partners and walk the mile with our friends,” Shah said in an apparent rebuff to opposition parties.
Taking a swipe at the attempt to position opposition unity as a force against the BJP, Shah said,“All the leaders who plan to join hands had fought against us in 2014. We defeated them comprehensively to form the government. We are going to form a majority government in 2019 as well. The winning spree of our ideology, after initial hiccups, has just begun and it is not going to stop soon,” he said.
Trying to instil confidence
PATNA:
among 10,000 heads of Shakti Kendra, he said, “Only Chandrababu Naidu has left the NDA. But Nitish Kumar has joined us. Prime minister Narendra Modi has changed the very foundation of politics in the country and replaced the caste, family rule and appeasement oriented rules of the game with development. The people will reward him for taking on poverty and delivering on people-centric measures in a short period,” Shah said.
Taking a leaf out of Chankaya’s dictum, Shah said, “When all thieves unite together, you may understand that the king is honest,” adding that the BJP will improve its tally in Uttar Pradesh further in 2019.
He, however, said the quotation was not an aspersion aimed at anyone in particular.
Shah’s hour-long breakfast meeting with Kumar had set the tone for NDA’s bonhomie. Both the leaders, despite the inner party rumblings over seat-sharing, were a picture of poise.
BJP state president Nityanand Rai, deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi and BJP Bihar in-charge Bhupendra Yadav were also present during the meeting.