Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) Won’t Be NDA Ally Outside Bihar

File image of PM Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

(Photo: The Quint)

Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United (JDU) will not be a part of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) outside the state of Bihar, the party decided at their National Executive Meet on Sunday, 9 June.

The JDU will fight the upcoming elections alone in Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Haryana and Delhi, reported ANI. The party recently swept the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar, winning 16 of the 17 seats.

JD(U) to Contest in 4 States Alone: Tyagi

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 KC Tyagi said.

He was speaking to reporters in Patna after the JD(U)'s national executive meeting, which was chaired by Kumar, reported PTI.

"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 Tyagi, flanked by party general secretaries Pavan Verma and Sanjay Jha.

“We want to make the JD(U) a national party. The JD(U) is a recognised party in Bihar and Arunachal Pradesh,” he said.

"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.

‘Fully With Modi Government’

Kumar had, on Saturday, asserted that the JD(U) had stayed out of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre as it felt there was no need for a "symbolic representation" in the Union cabinet and that the decision must not be construed as a result of any disaffection with its ally BJP.

“We are fully with the Modi government. I had made it clear after returning from New Delhi (after the swearing-in). Their party (BJP) has full majority. It has received the mandate to form government on its own and is not dependent on allies.”

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

“Yet they expressed the view that there should be a symbolic representation of all alliance partners. We thought it was not needed," Kumar had told reporters in Patna.

Kumar was replying to queries on the sidelines of a function where he launched a nationwide membership drive carried out by the JD(U), of which he is the national president.

"It is wrong to think that we have any disaffection with the BJP which has led to the decision. We have a different style of working and having a minister or two in the Centre does not matter much to us. We had returned to the NDA in the interests of Bihar and to that end our alliance remains firm," Kumar said.

From JD(U)-BJP Split in 2013

Kumar had snapped 17-year-old ties with the BJP in 2013 in protest against Modi's appointment as the party's chief for the Lok Sabha election campaign, which was seen as a precursor to his elevation as the Prime Ministerial candidate.

Kumar had till then maintained a distance from his Gujarati counterpart, in view of the latter’s alleged role in the post-Godhra communal riots.

Subsequently, he had fought the Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the CPI, losing badly. Kumar resigned as chief minister soon after, taking moral responsibility for the drubbing.

Thereafter, he formed a coalition with arch rival Lalu Prasad, who heads the RJD. The two parties, and their alliance partner Congress, handsomely won the 2015 Assembly polls and the RJD supremo's sons Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav were inducted into the new Cabinet headed by Kumar.

To Joining Hands With BJP Again in 2017

However, in 2017, a major controversy broke out following lodging of money laundering cases, by central agencies like CBI and ED against Tejashwi, who was also the deputy CM.

This led to Kumar walking out of the Grand Alliance and returning to the NDA, now joined by Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP.

(With inputs from PTI)