JD-U to go solo in 4 state polls, Bihar BJP pact stays
Aims to attain national party status by 2020
Patna, June 9: Within days of refusing to join the BJPled NDA government, The Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) on Sunday announced that it will not be a part of the BJP-led NDA outside Bihar and will contest the upcoming Assembly polls in four states on its own.
The decision has been taken in order to expand the presence of the JD(U) and to attain the status of a national recognised party by 2020, party’s chief general secretary K.C. Tyagi said after the party’s national executive meeting at Bihar chief minister’s residence in Patna.
“The JD(U) is not a part of the NDA outside Bihar. We will fight (the upcoming) Assembly elections in four states on our own strength,” said Mr Tyagi, flanked by party general secretaries Pavan Verma and Sanjay Jha.
“We will fight elections in four states of Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir with all our strength and might. And it will be our endeavour to achieve the status of a national party by 2020,” he added.
The JD(U), however, is
very much a part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre and will contest the Bihar Assembly elections in 2020 under the NDA banner, Mr Tyagi said.
He dismissed reports of friction within the alliance. “Nitishji had batted for Narendra Modi’s prime ministership in 171 public meetings before the elections. Hence, it is unfair to spread such rumours” Tyagi said.
The JD(U)’s decision to dump the BJP in four states comes amid tension between the alliance partners ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah offered a single berth to the JD(U) in the newly-formed NDA government and Mr Kumar refused to accept the offer. The party won 16 Lok Sabha seats in the recently concluded elections. Within days of the Union Cabinet’s constitution, Mr Kumar expanded the Bihar council of ministers but no fresh BJP leader was made a minister.
After deciding to go it alone in the four states, the JD(U) on Sunday asked its state presidents in the four states to start
■
■ Continued from Page 1 identifying seats to contest there.
Mr Tyagi said, “We want to make the JD(U) a national party. At present, the JD(U) is a recognised party in Bihar and Arunachal Pradesh.”
The national executive meeting of the JD(U) was attended by several senior party leaders, including vice president Prashant Kishor, Ram Chandra Prasad Singh and Bihar unit chief Bashishtha Narayan Singh.