JD(U) to Fight Four State Polls Alone, Says Party Carries Political Agenda of Its Own

New Delhi, July 9: Even though JD(U) on Sunday announced that the alliance between the party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will remain intact for the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, senior party le

New Delhi, July 9: Even though JD(U) on Sunday announced that the alliance between the party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will remain intact for the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, senior party leader KC Tyagi said that it (the party) is neither supporting nor opposing the latter. Speaking after the party’s national executive meeting in New Delhi, the JD(U) leader said that the party will be fighting four state polls alone since it has its own agenda.

“We aren’t helping or supporting or opposing the BJP. The Janata Dal-United will fight elections in four states on its own. We fought in Gujarat, in Nagaland, in Karnataka on limited seats… We carry the political agenda of our party,” Tyagi told the reporters in New Delhi.

The party leader further added that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will take the final call on seat sharing will be taken after seeing what the saffron party has to offer. Ahead of the meeting, Tyagi had categorically made it clear the party will play big brother in Bihar and Nitish Kumar will be the face of NDA in the state. “JD-U will be a big brother in seat sharing for 2019 polls in Bihar,” Tyagi said, adding that the party would contest more seats.

Tyagi said if seat sharing is finalised smoothly in the NDA for Lok Sabha polls, there would be no difficulty in Bihar assembly polls in 2020. Apart from seat sharing, the party was expected to demand that party president Nitish Kumar be made the face of the BJP-led NDA in Bihar for next year’s Lok Sabha Election. (Related: Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) Passes Resolution in Favour of Simultaneous Elections)

According to sources, JD-U leadership has conveyed to the BJP that they are not willing to settle with less number of seats and are keen to contest more seats than the BJP in view of party’s high tally of MLAs in the state.

After the national executive meeting, the JD(U) ruled out all the arguments of its re-alignment with the RJD stressing that there was no question of patching up with the “corrupt” Rashtriya Janata Dal. The party, however, kept the option open for the Congress party on the conditions that the party should clear its stand about Lalu Prasad’s party. (Related: While SP, TRS Favour Simultaneous Elections, DMK Says It’s ‘Unconstitutional’)

“Our leader Nitish Kumar had met Rahul Gandhi (before ditching the grand alliance) and apprised him about the corrupt Lalu Prasad family. But he (Gandhi) didn’t do anything to stop the grand alliance from disintegrating. Rahul Gandhi’s stand on corruption is not clear. Until or unless the Congress makes its stand clear about the corrupt RJD, how can we communicate with it,” he said.