NEW DELHI: The JD (U) on Sunday expressed their anguish over the change of sides of their six MLA to BJP in Arunachal pradesh, in a clear sign that the defection has not gone well with the NDA partner.
“We express anguish for six JDU MLAs f from Arunachal Pradesh to join the Bharatiya Janata Party. This is not a good sign for the politics of the alliance, “JD (U) senior leader KC Tyagi told reporters in Patna.
Interestingly, Tyagi’s comments come just days after the Prime Minister of Bihar Nitish kumar minimized attrition.
Kumar, who is also the national president of JD (U), sought to dismiss development in the northeastern state with a bitter laugh, saying, “We are focusing on our proposed meeting. They have gone their own way.”
In Arunachal Pradesh, Kumar’s party had won seven seats in last year’s assembly elections and became the main opposition group, while the BJP, his coalition partner in Bihar, had come to power. Six of those seven JD (U) MLA joined the saffron party on Friday.
Following the change, the BJP now has 48 MLAs in the 60-member House, while the JD (U) is left with just one. Congress and the National People’s Party (PNP) have four members each.
However, the BJP has maintained that it has not “poached” the JD (U) MLA in Arunachal Pradesh and stressed that disgruntled lawmakers had switched sides of their own free will.
Renu Devi, one of the chief deputy ministers in Bihar and a former national vice president of the BJP, had called Kumar the “guardian” of the ruling coalition on Saturday and expressed confidence that development in the northeastern state will not cast its shadow on 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,” Devi had said.
Meanwhile, the defection has fueled opposition parties seeking to warn Kumar against the “poaching skill” of the BJP.
The leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, on Saturday called on Kumar to stay in contact with opposition parties in the state as an “antidote to resisting Arunachal syndrome.”
“Before being torn to pieces and withered by the same machinations you are now experiencing in #Arunachal Pradesh, @NitishKumar Ji, explore new ideas that may include staying in touch with the opposition in Bihar as an antidote to resisting #Arunachal Syndrome,” he tweeted Chowdhury.
Rashtriya Janata Dal spokeswoman Shakti Singh Yadav had said: “The act of the BJP to take six JD (U) MLAs in Arunachal Pradesh is to destroy the existence of the JD (U). It appears that Nitish Kumar is defenseless and has surrendered. to the BJP. The people of Bihar cannot imagine that they have compromised their self-esteem. Are you afraid of the multi-million dollar Srijan scam? Scams like this could be the reason for their silence. ”
The head of the Bihar Congress, Madan Mohan Jha, said the BJP has shown its true face and does not even care to “betray” its alliance partner.
The JD (U) has been challenging assembly polls in various states without having a truck with the BJP, insisting that its link to the saffron party was “confined to Bihar.”
The party made an exception only in the Delhi assembly elections earlier this year, which it fought in alliance with the BJP, although the coalition suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Aam Aadmi Party.
Success in Arunachal Pradesh had helped the JD (U) gain recognition as a state party there, a development that was hailed by its rank and file as evidence of its growing presence under the leadership of the Prime Minister of Bihar.
(With inputs from agencies)
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