Oppn allies to talk seat share in next meet, says Bihar CM

Kumar slammed the Centre for attacking the Opposition during the three-day debate on the no-confidence motion in Parliament

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance or INDIA will discuss the seat sharing for next year’s Lok Sabha elections during their upcoming meeting in Mumbai at the end of the month.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said the formation of INDIA has rattled the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

The chief minister also claimed that many parties remained aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) “out of fear” and would jump ship at the time of elections.

Kumar was attending an event to mark Shaheed Smarak, to pay tributes to the seven martyrs during the Quit India movement in 1942, when he made the remarks.

“Already, there have been a few rounds of meetings. We are united and various issues, including seat sharing, would be discussed at the upcoming meeting of the INDIA bloc in Mumbai,” he said.

The 26-party Opposition alliance, which has been formed to jointly take on the ruling BJP at the Centre in next year’s elections, have already met twice in less than one month – first in Patna on June 23 and then in Bengaluru on July 17-18. The bloc is set to hold their third meeting in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1 for further talks.

Kumar, a Janata Dal (United) leader who had initiated the first round of talks by hosting the June meeting of 15 opposition parties, said the formation of INDIA has already rattled the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

“They (NDA) will face a rout in the next elections. This is why they are scared now. There is a perception among people that the BJP-led government at the Centre is not doing any development works and indulging only in publicity,” he said.

Asked about Prime Minister Modi’s ‘ghamandia’ jibe at the Opposition alliance, Kumar said: “All of us have joined hands for the betterment of the country. They (the BJP) are not aware that many parties, which I shall not name right now, are with them out of fear. They will come over to this side when the elections are announced.”

In August last year, it was for the second time that the JD(U) broke ties with the BJP and joined hands with the Rashtriya Janata Dal-led opposition; the first was in 2013 when the party exited after 17 years in the NDA.

Kumar slammed the Centre for attacking the Opposition during the three-day debate on the no-confidence motion in Parliament. “The Opposition has the right to raise issues. They did their job,” he said.

“Incidents are happening everywhere but they (Centre) are mum. They speak on issues as per their own choice and suitability. The House is in session but they make no statement,” he said, referring to the Opposition’s demand for a statement from the Prime Minister in Parliament on the ongoing Manipur violence.

Kumar continued: “Earlier it was not the case. During former prime minister (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee’s tenure, issues were discussed in the House and the government responded.”

The chief minister hit out at the BJP for “mocking the JD(U) as being number three in terms of numerical strength in the assembly”. “In the 2010 assembly elections, we won 118 seats while the BJP got less. In the 2009 Parliamentary polls, we won 20 seats whereas the BJP won 12 seats. They seem to have forgotten all this,” he said.

“They should admit the conspiracy they had hatched with the help of their agent,” Kumar said, obliquely referring to Chirag Paswan, who was then heading the Lok Janshakti Party during the 2020 assembly polls.

Paswan had fielded candidates, many of them BJP rebels, in all seats which were being contested by the JD(U), causing the tally of the chief minister’s party to fall drastically.

Kumar said Bihar could have seen more development works had the Centre accorded the state special status.

“It was we who took piped water to every household and electricity to every village. But they wanted to project these as their own achievements,” he said.

Hitting back, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi said: “The chief minister should not harbour any illusions. In 2024, the BJP will win all 40 seats from Bihar and return to power at the Centre.”