NDA’s ally LJP leaves it to Chirag Paswan to take call on fighting Assembly polls under Nitish’s leadership
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday launched the Janata Dal (U) campaign for the upcoming Assembly polls, but the news from Delhi was not encouraging for the NDA’s supreme leader in Bihar.
NDA’s ally Lok Jantantrik Party (LJP) kept Nitish Kumar guessing about contesting the polls as the alliance partner. LJP’s Parliamentary board on Monday authorised party president Chirag Pawan to take a call on whether to contest the polls alongside the JD(U). At the meeting, several members claimed that Kumar was no more a popular Chief Minister and the LJP should not contest the poll under his leadership.
The junior Paswan has repeatedly attacked Kumar on several issues, including handling of the migrant crisis and coronavirus pandemic as well as administrative corruption.
Sources said the LJP may contest nearly 150 seats if it was not offered a respectable e number of seats in the alliance. The JD(U) is not ready to contest less than 110 out of 240 seats and expects the BJP to share the remaining 130 seats with the LJP. This may not be a “happy” choice either for the BJP or the LJP.
Sources said more than the seats it’s now a personal tussle between the junior Paswan and Kumar. Chirag has already indicated it was time for a new generation of leadership to take up the reins of Bihar. Kumar is clearly the biggest hurdle in his path.
There was a buzz that if the alliance breaks then the LJP may put up candidates against the JD(U) but avoid any contest against the BJP. This will suit the BJP as well.
The Parliamentary board authorised Chirag to take a call on whether to go into the polls as part of the NDA or squarely take on the JD(U) outside the alliance. The board also empowered Chirag to prepare a list of candidates for 143 constituencies.
As the LJP meeting went on, the JD(U) said any party which is a part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the State will have to accept Kumar’s leadership.
JD(U) spokesperson KC Tyagi said top BJP leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah and party president JP Nadda, have announced that the NDA will fight the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls under Kumar’s leadership.
The JD(U), he said, has always had an alliance with the BJP in Bihar and at times in other states, but not with any other NDA member.
“Whether it was in 2005, 2010 or 2015 assembly polls, we have never had any tie-up with the LJP,” Tyagi said, hinting that his party won’t enter into an alliance with the LJP.
“When the JD(U) says that its tie-up is not with the LJP, then we should put up our candidates against it,” a source said.
Chirag asked his party leaders to refrain from attacking former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, a Dalit leader like him, who has been attacking the LJP since joining hands with the JD(U).
The Election Commission is likely to soon announce the schedule for the elections to the 243-member state assembly. They are slated to be held in October-November.
The LJP had contested on 42 seats in the 2015 elections in an lliance with the BJP and other NDA members. The JD(U) was then a part of the Opposition alliance in Bihar. PTI KR
Meanwhile, kickstarting JD(U) campaign for Bihar Assembly polls, Kumar on Monday highlighted the development works done by his Government in the past 15 years and asked party workers to tell new generation about the difference between the NDA and the RJD regimes.
Ina three-hour virtual rally, Kumar raked up the issue of former minister Chandrika Rai’s daughter Aishwarya Rai, estranged wife of RJD president Lalu Prasad’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav. Their marriage has broken and the matter is pending in a Patna court. Kumar also referred about Jai Vardhan Yadav, grandson of former Union Minister Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav.
Chandrika Rai and Jai Vardhan Yadav, both RJD MLAs and hailing from Yadav caste, recently switched over to JD(U).
Kumar was addressing party’s virtual rally named “Nischay Samvad” which was broadcast live through newly launched digital platform jdulive.com from Karpoori Thakur Sabhagar (conference hall) at the party office here.
The rally was also available on Facebook, twitter and TV channels. Thakur was a veteran socialist leader who served as a former Chief Minister of Bihar. “I want to know as what happened with former CM Daroga Prasad Rais son Chandrika Rai and his daughter Aishwarya Rai. What kind of treatment was meted out to Aishwarya Rai.”
Tuesday, 08 September 2020 | PNS | New Delhi
