JD(U) asks BJP to rein in leaders ‘shooting their mouths off’ over Bihar polls

The trigger for JD(U)’s reaction could be the latest statement issued by former union minister and BJP MLC Sanjay Paswan, who had, on Wednesday, said that people of Bihar wanted to see a BJP leader as the CM.

Taking a strong exception to comments being made by some BJP leaders, particularly in regard to NDA’s chief ministerial face for the 2020 Assembly polls in Bihar, the ruling Janata Dal (United) on Thursday asked its alliance partner to “rein in its loudmouths.”

BJP lawmaker Sanjay Paswan recently said that the people of Bihar wanted to see a BJP leader as Bihar chief minister, something that has not gone down well with ally JD(U). (Arvind Yadav / HT File Photo)

JD(U)’s state spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan Prasad asked the Bharatiya Janata Party to take action against its leaders who were issuing statements on issues already settled by their top leadership. “It’s against coalition dharma,” said Prasad.

“Had a member of JD (U) been guilty of repeatedly violating coalition dharma in this manner, he would have faced consequences for sure. I hope BJP takes note of leaders who keep shooting their mouths off despite Amit Shah’s intervention, and act against them,” the JD (U) spokesperson said.

The trigger for JD(U)’s reaction could be the latest statement issued by former union minister and BJP MLC Sanjay Paswan, who had, on Wednesday, said that people of Bihar wanted to see a BJP leader as the CM.

“The people of Bihar now want to see a BJP leader as the chief minister... We are in a position to form a government in the state on our own, though we shall abide by whatever decision Narendra Modi and Sushil Modi (Deputy CM and BJP leader) take,” Paswan told reporters.

This was not the first time Paswan had made this demand. Earlier, in 2019, he had made a similar statement.

Paswan is not the lone face in BJP to have raised this demand. Recently, former party MLA from Nokha, Rameshwar Chaurasia, had also made a similar demand.

The state BJP was quick to distance itself from the comments of Paswan.

“Every decision related to 2020 Bihar election will be taken collectively by the top leadership of National Democratic Alliance after proper consultation in due course of time. Our national president Amit Shah has already said the NDA in Bihar will contest 2020 election unitedly under Nitish Kumar. So there is no debate on the issue. Whatever some respected leaders are saying in their individual capacity is not the party stand. Party will only follow the decision of our national leadership with regards to the 2020 Bihar election,” said BJP’s spokesperson Nikhil Anand.

Amit Shah had, in October last year, made it clear that the NDA would contest 2020 Assembly polls under Nitish Kumar.