Patna: Amid simmering discontent over the seat-sharing dispute between the JD(U) and BJP, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Tuesday cleared the air by claiming there was no trouble in the state’s ruling NDA.
Talking to reporters in Patna, the chief minister said: “All is well and there is no trouble anywhere in the alliance.”
Poll strategist and JD(U) leader Prashant Kishor had raised the political pitch by saying the JD(U), being the largest party in Bihar’s NDA, should get more seats to contest in the 2020 Assembly elections.
Mr Nitish Kumar’s remark came after several senior BJP leaders reacted to Mr Kishor’s statement and urged the JD(U) to clear its stand on the issue. In a hard-hitting reaction, Bihar deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi of the BJPhad said: “The 2020 Assembly polls will be fought under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Nitish Kumar. Seat-sharing will be finalised by the top leaders of both parties at the right time. There is no trouble. But those who don’t belong to any political ideology and are engaged in the business of collecting data and creating slogans are the ones speaking against the
coalition and trying to help the opponents by their statements.”
This remark, however, did not go down well with Mr Kishor, who in a tweet on Tuesday said: “It is a pleasant experience to hear lectures on political dignity and ideology from Sushil Kumar Modi, who became deputy chief minister due to circumstances despite his party losing badly in the 2015 Assembly election.”
During the 2005 and 2010 Assembly polls, the JD(U)-BJP combine in Bihar registered a massive victory against the RJD. The JD(U) in 2005 contested 139 seats and won 88, while the BJP won 55 of the 102 seats that it contested.
Similarly, in 2010, the JD(U) emerged as the largest party in Bihar, winning 115 of 141 seats it contested while its BJP partner BJP won 91 of 102 seats.
In the 2015 Assembly elections, the JD(U) along with the RJD and the Congress had formed a grand alliance and defeated the BJP by a huge margin. However, in July 2017, after the CBI registered corruption cases against RJD chief Lalu Yadav and his son Tejashwi Yadav, Mr Kumar returned to the NDA fold and formed a government with the BJP’s support.
