The appointment of a new chief at Janata Dal United, primarily to give Chief Minister Nitish Kumar a chance to choose not to negotiate with the BJP’s top brass, indicates a deep division within Bihar’s ruling alliance. Ramchandra Prasad Singh was appointed head of Janata Dal United today by Kumar, just two weeks after he broached the matter with some party members.
Janata Dal United has not shied away from blaming the BJP for covertly backing the Chirag Paswan rebellion, which cut off almost half of the party’s strength in the assembly and left it as a junior partner of the BJP.
Today, the party openly expressed its discontent on various issues, starting with the situation in Arunachal Pradesh, where six MLA from the party have joined the BJP, leaving it with only one MLA in the state assembly.
In Arunachal Pradesh, ruled by the BJP, Janata Dal United was part of the opposition and the crossing of the MLA has left the party without weight in the assembly.
“This is not good for the alliance. They should adopt the dharma of Atal Bihari Vajpayee,” party spokesman KC Tyagi said, expressing his disgust with the ally.
Renu Devi, one of Kumar’s MPs, has stated that the events in Arunachal would not affect the alliance in Bihar. “We had not poached them (JD (U) MLA in Arunachal Pradesh). What could our party have done if some legislators voluntarily expressed their desire to join us,” the former national vice president of the BJP told reporters.
Tyagi said today that JD (U) is “hurt” by the BJP move.
“Our party leader had a few words with (BJP chief) JP Nadda. He said that the MLA should be included in the cabinet but the BJP included them in the party. The JD (U) is hurt by this,” he said. Tyagi.
The JD (U) also expressed its disgust with the BJP’s move in several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, to criminalize interfaith marriage with new legislation.
“There have been attempts to divide society, this is not right,” Tyagi said.
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