india

Updated: Jun 09, 2019 17:44 IST

The Janata Dal (United) at its national executive on Sunday resolved to fight the upcoming assembly elections in Jharkhand, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana on its own, even as in Bihar it will contest as part of the NDA comprising along with the BJP and the LJP.

The JD(U)’s decision, which was taken in presence of party’s national president and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar after a four-hour brainstorming, might not go down well with its main ally, the BJP which is preparing to retain power in Jharkhand and Haryana and wrest Delhi and J&K. The four states are expected to go the polls in the next one year.

The party’s bid to expand its base outside Bihar recently got a boost after it won seven out of 60 seats in Arunachal Pradesh assembly poll and was thereby recognized as a state party there. The JD(U) had two legislators in Jharkhand till 2014. It had contested assembly elections in many other states without any truck with the BJP in the past, but failed to make any impact.

Although Nitish Kumar stated that everything in the NDA in Bihar was well, a section of the party leaders believed that the JD(U)’s resolve to strengthen its organization in other states and fight the elections on its own apparently hinted about growing divide between the two parties.

Opposition leaders alleged that JD(U)’s reluctance to join the Narendra Modi-led government and its refusal to accommodate anyone from the BJP in the latest Cabinet expansion of by Nitish Kumar summed up the growing contradictions with the NDA. The JD(U) is said to have declined joining the Union cabinet, as it was not being offered a ‘respectable’ share.

Anil Hegde has been appointed as the chief election officer of the party and assigned the task of completing the formalities of organizational election by the third week of October. “President of the party would be elected at its national council slated for October 19-20. We are not a dynastic party or a caste-based party. Ours party is a democratic one and followed the principles of Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia and Karpoori Thakur,” national spokesman KC Tyagi said after the meeting.

Tyagi dismissed talks about dissension within the NDA, Tyagi claimed that Nitish Kumar had politely declined the BJP’s offer to join the Narendra Modi government. “JD(U) will continue to extend its outside support to the government and remain with it on all policy issues to be taken up in the Parliament,” Tyagi said.