Nitish Kumar’s party to contest state polls without BJP

When it comes on sharing seat in the state for year 2019 general elections, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said his party will take a final call. It seems that the call depends on what the BJP has to offer. Also Mr Kumar is looking forward to lead alone as the face of the NDA in the state in next year’s Lok Sabha elections. Today after a strategy session during its crucial executive meet, his party issued a carefully crafted statement.

He added, “We aren’t helping or supporting or opposing the BJP. The Janata Dal United will fight elections in four states on its own,” senior party leader KC Tyagi told reporters. “We fought in Gujarat, in Nagaland, in Karnataka on limited seats… We carry the political agenda of our party.”

Where as the JD(U), an ally of the NDA, is seen as being increasingly disappointed by the BJP stance since Mr Kumar formed the alliance last July after breaking ties with the Congress and Lalu Yadav’s party.

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Any positive response has not been initiated from the Centre on special economic status for the state, which is a key objective of Mr Kumar for the voters back home. The party has also been ignored in terms of cabinet seats in PM Modi’s last interchange.

Senior Central minister Giriraj Singh and BJP general secretary Rajendra Singh had hinted that Mr Kumar is not indispensable. Mr Singh had indicated that even without the JD(U), the BJP-led alliance was capable of contesting Bihar’s 40 Lok Sabha seats and ending up winning three-fourth.

The JD(U) leadership has conveyed to the BJP that they are not willing to settle for fewer seats as per the source.

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