Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. (Source-Twitter/@ani)
After formally joining hands with the NDA on Saturday, Janata Dal (United) chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar targeted senior leader Sharad Yadav and questioned why he hadn’t stopped the party splitting from NDA in 2013. “Jab hum alag ho rhe thay NDA se 2013 mein to (Sharad Yadav) party ke adhyaksh thay, kyun nahi roka tha? (When we were splitting from NDA in 2013, then Sharad Yadav was the party president. Why didn’t he raise objections?”).
“Many people are misinformed. JD(U) also has an electoral base. Whichever party JD(U) sides with, it is that party which wins,” he added.
In a veiled attack on Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Kumar said that few people talk about mandate whilst aware that the mandate was given to fight against corruption, for the development and welfare of the state and not for the welfare of a particular family. He added that leaders who consider people as voters, never think about the welfare of the people, state or the region.
“We never considered people as voters, we only focused on development. People raised question on my capability. They said I am an opportunist. We don’t join hands with corrupt people. We don’t have greed for power. We work for the welfare of the people” he said.
Speaking on the alliance with NDA, Kumar said the BJP made the proposal of making an alliance after he resigned from the post.
His comments come after JD(U) passed a resolution to join NDA during the party’s national executive meeting on Saturday. Party general secretary K C Tyagi confirmed that JD(U) under Nitish will become part of the NDA, weeks after Kumar broke away from the Grand Alliance consisting of Congress, RJD and JDU.
Read: Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) formally joins NDA, may get cabinet berths at Centre
Rebel JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav also held a ‘Jan Adalat’ meeting in Patna on Saturday, claiming his faction of the party is the genuine unit. Supporters of rival factions of JD(U) also clashed outside CM Nitish Kumar’s residence in Patna on Saturday. The clashes took place when Yadav’s supporters, escorting him from the airport to the venue of the Jan Adalat programme, stopped outside the CM’s residence and shouted slogans.
Some of them, carrying sticks and belts, tried to enter the CM’s residence, leading to the clashes. Kumar’s supporters, who had gathered there for JD (U) National Executive Committee meeting came out and chased away Yadav’s supporters, police said.
Read: Nitish Kumar, Sharad Yadav supporters clash outside CM’s house
Addressing the Jan Adalat, Sharad Yadav said, “Gathbandhan ka paanchh saal ka wada tha, janta ne humein amanat di thi aur ghoshana patr imaan hota hai. (The promise of the alliance was for five years, the public had handed us something very precious and the manifesto is faith).”
Sharad Yadav had earlier called for a convention on Thursday to mobilise people for safeguarding the “composite culture” of India.
(With inputs from ANI)
