Nitish Kumar's JD(U) slams Harivansh for attending new Parliament inauguration defying party line

PATNA: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) on Monday slammed the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman and party MP Harivansh for taking part in the inauguration of the new Parliament building in New Delhi on Sunday defying the party’s decision to abstain from the function.
JD(U)’s chief spokesperson and MLC Neeraj Kumar, in a strongly-worded video statement issued here, also criticised the journalist-turned-politician for his participation in the inaugural function where “even your chairman, the Vice President of India, (Jagdeep Dhankhar) was not invited.”
While showing a set of photographs related to the inauguration of the new Parliament, Neeraj further said, “JD(U) sent you to the upper house of the Parliament. But you attended the inaugural function (of the new Parliament) when the party and the party leadership had decided to abstain from the event.”
The JD(U) spokesperson also alleged that Harivansh sold his “intellectual integrity for his chair” by participating in the inaugural function.
“When a black chapter was being written in the history of parliamentary democracy, you - by your attendance - put your signature on the very first page of that black history. It is a matter of great concern and contemplation. … What sort of actions the party leadership will take on these questions, it is their jurisdiction. But what sort of ‘Gunah’ (crime) you have committed in politics, the coming generation may regret,” Neeraj said in his recorded statement.
A native of Uttar Pradesh, Harivansh first entered the Rajya Sabha from Bihar as a JD(U) nominee in 2014. Currently serving his second consecutive term in the Upper House, which will end in 2026, Harivansh has been the deputy chairman since 2018. Earlier, he served as a media advisor to the then Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar.
JD(U)’s de facto leader and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar had defended the opposition parties’ decision to abstain from the new Parliament’s inaugural function, terming it as “an attempt to change history by those who had made no contribution to the country’s freedom struggle”. Nitish had also said that there was no need for a new Parliament when the ‘Sansad Bhavan’ is there.
Altogether 20 opposition parties abstained from the inaugural function on Sunday, insisting that President Draupadi Murmu, and not Prime Minister Narendra Modi, should have inaugurated the new Parliament building.