Rift between two major constituents of Grand Alliance RJD and JD(U) has widened following a statement on dynastic politics by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Several other issues like delay in seat sharing for upcoming Lok Sabha elections among INDIA alliance, scathing attack of Lalu Prasad’s daughter on Chief Minister and lack of coordination among constituents in the state government also added fuel to ongoing friction.
AMN / PATNA
Amid growing crisis in Bihar politics, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) on Friday asserted that the party was “firmly with INDIA coalition” but wanted the Congress to do “introspection” with regard to alliance partners and sharing of seats.
State JD(U) president Umesh Singh Kushwaha made the statement, refuting rumours that his party, headed by the chief minister, was thinking of a return to the BJP-led NDA.
“All is well in Bihar’s ruling Mahagathbandhan and the media speculations are driven by some agenda,” Kushwaha told reporters.
“I met the CM yesterday as well as today. It is a routine affair. There is no truth in the rumours doing the rounds. We also reject the rumours that party MLAs have been asked to rush to Patna” he said.
He also made light of Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav, who is in RJD, sitting far from each other at the Republic Day parade, asserting that “we are firmly with INDIA coalition”.
Kushwaha, however, said, “We want the Congress, which is our alliance partner, to do some introspection with regard to its stance towards other constituents and sharing of seats. Our leader Nitish Kumar has for long been stressing on the need for early finalisation of seat-sharing deal so that we could concentrate on Lok Sabha polls”.
The statement of the JD(U) leader came in the backdrop of two opposition bloc INDIA partners, TMC and AAP, ruling out the possibility of a truck with the Congress in West Bengal and Punjab respectively.
Meanwhile, when asked about the delay in seat-sharing in the opposition bloc INDIA, state Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh asked, “why nobody asks about the BJP-led NDA? They, too are yet to sort out sharing of seats with allies”.
