Amit Shah: Nitish will lead NDA into 2020 Bihar polls

Bihar: Ending a lot of speculation over the NDA’s leadership crisis in Bihar, home minister BJP president Amit Shah clarified on Thursday that the BJP and JD(U) will contest the coming Bihar Assembly polls in 2020 under the leadership of chief minister Nitish Kumar.

“The NDA in Bihar will contest the Assembly polls under the leadership of chief minister Nitish Kumar”, Mr Shah said in an interview to a TV channel. He, however, admitted differences had surfaced between the two allies on the leadership issue. “These kinds of issues are signs of a healthy relationship between two alliance partners, but things should not convert into an argument”, Mr Shah said.

The JD(U) returned to the NDA fold after breaking ties with the RJD-Congress alliance in July 2017. The JD(U) leaders said “BJP president Amit Shah’s statement will silence those who have been raising questions on the leadership of chief minister Nitish Kumar”.

In Bihar, the JD(U)-BJP-LJP alliance had won the Lok Sabha polls with a thumping majority. The JD(U), which emerged as the third largest NDA ally after winning 16 seats in the election, was reportedly upset over statements by a few BJP leaders, including Union minister Giriraj Singh and senior dalit leader Sanjay Paswan.

The rift had widened after a faction in the BJP started urging the party leadership to cut ties with the JD(U) in Bihar and contest the polls on its own. Mr Sanjay Paswan, who is considered close to Union ministers Giriraj Singh and Nityanand Rai, had created a flutter in state politics by urging the leadership to take over the reins of the NDA in the state from the JD(U).

Demands were also being made to declare Giriraj Singh as the NDA’s chief ministerial candidate for the Assembly polls.

The crisis deepened after Giriraj Singh issued a series of statements against Nitish Kumar and his government for poor handling of the flood situation.

Sources claim that Nitish Kumar’s stand on sensitive issues like triple talaq, Article 370, the NRC, Uniform Civil Code and the Ayodhya dispute had irked a few BJP leaders in Bihar. The BJP’s absence from the Dussehra event in Patna had also fuelled speculation of a rift between the two alliance partners.

Reacting sharply, senior RJD leader Shivanand Tiwary on Thursday said “the announcement is an indication that the BJP can’t win the election in Bihar on its own. The manner in which the BJP leaders were criticising Nitish Kumar for his failure in dealing with the flood situation will now mean they won’t be able to raise questions against him. Nitish Kumar has handled the situation very smartly.”