JD(U) suffered after allying with BJP in 2017: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday asserted that the JDUs realignment with the BJP half a decade ago which came to an abrupt end last year had been to the detriment of his partyThe JDU leader was replying to queries from journalists in Banka district which he visited as part of the Samadhan Yatra mass outreach programmeHe was asked about the open letter to the party cadre from disgruntled parliamentary board chief Upendra Kushwaha who has convened a twoday meeting next week to discuss the gradual erosion of support base of the JDU and anxieties over a rumoured deal with the RJD its current allyA visibly peeved Kumar sought to remind Kushwaha that the latter has been always rewarded by the party despite having ditched it repeatedly and if he keeps airing his grievances in public then it will be construed as he has other plans for himselfWhen asked whether he thought Kushwaha was forcing his hand at the BJPs behest Kumar replied cryptically You can draw your conclusions How much publicity this affair is getting I have never seen such spotlight on my partyHowever the wily leader indicated that he was giving a long rope to the intransigent party functionary saying I have said it and so has our national president that nobody needs to react to whatever he Kushwaha saysHe however ridiculed Kushwaha for the repeated claim that the party was growing weak pointing out that our recent membership drive swelled the party ranks like never beforeAlso Read PM Narendra Modi to visit Mumbai on February 10 herersquos all you need to knowThe only instance when the party did suffer harm was during our alliance in 2017 said Kumar in an obvious reference to the BJP which he did not mention by nameRecounting the 2019 Lok Sabha polls which JDU and BJP contested together along with late Ram Vilas Paswans LJP and the clean sweep made by the NDA Kumar referred to the trajectory followed by the saffron party thereafterWe had asked for three to four berths in the Union cabinet but they said they will not give more than one so we did not join In the assembly polls in 2020 we supported them but the way a campaign was run against our JDU candidateshas there been any such precedent asked KumarThe reference was to the rebellion by the LJP then headed by Paswans son Chirag who fielded candidates in all seats contested by the JDU vowing to dislodge the CM from powerMany of the candidates of the LJP were BJP rebels some of them prominent officebearers and the JDU was hit hard with its tally plummeting from more than 70 in 2015 to less than 45Let them BJP face the next elections and they will figure out where they stand said Kumar who now heads the multiparty Mahagathbandhan and braces for a national role in 2024 Lok Sabha polls wherein he believes a united opposition can defeat the seemingly invincible NDAKumar also chided Kushwaha for becoming a killjoy for the JDU as well as the Mahagathbandhan and asserted He was with us all through when new formation was taking shapeI wonder what has gone wrong with him in the last couple of months I have expressed willingness to talk it over if he had any unmet expectations but he seems disinclinedAlthough Kushwaha had been one of the most combative leaders of the JDU in its war of words with the BJP he has been in a sulk since Kumar made it clear that there would be no deputy CM besides Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD and also declared that the latter will lead the Mahagathbandhan in the next assembly pollsKushwaha who had returned to the JDU in 2021 merging his Rashtriya Lok Samata Party in his open letter made a mention of all former workers of the RLSP triggering speculations that it was a call for exit from the partyKumar however seemed unfazed and said He has deserted the JDU twice in the pastif he wants to part ways again nobody is going to stop himThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever