JD(U) suffered after allying with BJP in 2017: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said the JD(U)'s realignment with the BJP half a decade ago, which ended abruptly last year, was against his party.

The JD(U) leader was answering questions from reporters in Banka district, which he visited as part of the 'Samadhan Yatra' mass outreach programme. He was asked about an open letter to the party cadre from disgruntled Parliamentary Board chief Upendra Kushwaha, who has convened a two-day meeting next week to discuss the gradual erosion of the JD(U) support base and concerns over a rumored deal with the RJD, its current ally.

A visibly angry Kumar tried to remind Kushwaha that the latter has always been rewarded by the party despite repeatedly rejecting it, and if he continues to air his grievances in public, it will be interpreted as having other plans for himself. Asked if he thought Kushwaha was forcing his hand at the behest of the BJP, Kumar said cryptically: You can draw your own conclusions. The amount of publicity this affair is getting, I have never seen so much attention on my end.

However, the leader hinted that he was giving the recalcitrant party functionary a long rope, saying: I have said it and so has our national president, that no one needs to react to what he (Kushwaha) says. He, however, mocked Kushwaha for repeatedly claiming that the party was on the wane and pointed out that our recent thirst for membership had swelled the party ranks like never before. The only time the party suffered was during our alliance in 2017, Kumar said in an apparent allusion to the BJP, which he did not mention by name.

Narrating the 2019 Lok Sabha polls jointly contested by the JD(U) and the BJP, along with the late Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP and the clean sweep by the NDA, Kumar referred to the trajectory followed by the saffron party. We asked for three to four beds (in the Union cabinet), but they said they wouldn't give more than one, so we didn't join. We supported them in the assembly elections (in 2020) but the way the campaign was conducted against our (JDU) candidates, is there any such precedent? Kumar asked. The reference was to the insurgency of the LJP, led by Paswan's son Chirag, which fielded candidates in all the seats contested by the JD(U), promising to oust the CM from power. Many of the LJP's candidates were BJP rebels, some of them prominent office bearers, and the JD(U) was hit hard as its tally plummeted from over 70 in 2015 to less than 45.

Let them (BJP) face the next elections and they will figure out where they are, said Kumar, who is now heading the multi-party 'Mahagathbandhan' and preparing for a national role in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, where he believes a united opposition . can defeat the seemingly invincible NDA.Kumar also chastised Kushwaha for becoming an absolute delight to the JD(U) as well as the 'Mahagathbandhan' and claimed that he was with us all the time when the new formation was taking shape. I wonder what has gone wrong with him in the past few months. I've expressed a willingness to talk about it if he has any unmet expectations, but he doesn't seem to like it.

Although Kushwaha was one of the most combative leaders of the JD(U) in its war of words with the BJP, he was embarrassed as Kumar had made it clear that there would be no deputy CM apart from Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD and the RJD. he also declared that the latter would lead the Mahagathbandhan in the next assembly elections. Kushwaha, who returned to the JD(U) in 2021 by merging his Rashtriya Lok Samata party, mentioned all former RLSP workers in his open letter, sparking speculation that it was a call to quit the party. Kumar, however, seemed undeterred and said, He has left the JD(U) twice in the past, if he wants to split again, no one will stop him.