JD(U) Not to be Part of NDA Outside Bihar, Contest Upcoming Assembly Elections Alone

The decision was taken at the National Executive Meeting of the JD(U) held on Sunday, under the leadership of CM Nitish Kumar.

New Delhi: The Janata Dal United (JDU) will not be a part of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) outside the state of Bihar. The decision has been taken in the party’s National Executive Meet, held under the chairmanship of party supremo and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, on Sunday.

With this, the party will fight the upcoming Assembly elections in four states – Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Haryana and Delhi – alone.

The meeting comes amid rumours about a rift between the JD(U) and NDA. However, the latter on Friday reportedly confirmed that the alliance in the state was ‘intact’.

On May 30, the Bihar CM announced his decision that the JD(U) will not be a part of the Central government, stating that it would not accept the only one ministerial berth which will be nothing more than symbolic representation. He had said, ““They (Bharatiya Janata Party) wanted only one person from JD(U) in the Cabinet, so it would have been just symbolic participation. We informed them that we do not need the Cabinet berth.”

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha Elections 2019, the NDA, comprising BJP, JD(U) and LJP, won 39 out of seats in Bihar. Nitish Kumar’s party bagged 16 seats.