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‘RJD will have no alliance with Nitish Kumar’s JD(U)’: Tejashwi Prasad
Senior RJD leaders like former MP Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and former MP Shivanand Tiwary have been advocating the need for bringing the JD(U) back in the RJD-Congress led grand alliance in the last few months.
Dismissing statements by senior leaders in his party, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav said on Saturday that his party will have no alliance with Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and there is no place for the Bihar CM in the grand alliance.
Senior RJD leaders like former MP Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and former MP Shivanand Tiwary have been advocating the need for bringing the JD(U) back in the RJD-Congress led grand alliance in the last few months.
“There will be no future alliance of the RJD with chief minister Nitish Kumar. It is Nitish Kumar who had left the grand alliance. Kumar has betrayed both the BJP and the RJD,” said Tejashwi while speaking to reporters at his residence in Patna .
Tejashwi, who is the leader of opposition in the Bihar Legislative Assembly, said the chief minister was in the BJP and he should stay in the NDA. “The CM is with the BJP. He has supported the BJP-led NDA government over scrapping of Article 370 in J&K... Kumar should stay in the NDA,” he said.
Observers feel Tejashwi’s hard stand on having no truck with the JD(U) in future is also a setback for the Congress, which is apparently keen on roping in Kumar for a larger coalition.
On RJD national vice president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh’s statement that JD(U) should be brought in the grand alliance for larger unity among regional parties, Tejashwi said, “It is his (Raghuvansh) opinion,”.
Earlier today Singh also said that the RJD-JD(U) were in talks for an alliance. However, after a meeting with Tejashwi in the evening, the senior RJD leader denied making such a statement.
Sources said the former MP was asked by other senior leaders not to deviate from the party line on issues of alliance.
The buzz on the JD(U)’s possible re-entry in the grand alliance has gained currency after several Congress and RJD’s leaders talked about it, saying how there was no reason why the JD(U) strongman should not be welcomed in the coalition if he decides to leave the BJP.
The JD(U), which was part of the grand alliance in the 2015 election, walked out of the coalition in July 2017 by realigning with the BJP to form government.
