lok-sabha-elections

Updated: Jan 21, 2019 12:05 IST

The Janata Dal (United) on Sunday gave its nod for setting up a three-member committee to start the process of shortlisting probable candidates for the 2019 polls and also contest the lone Lakshadweep Lok Sabha seat.

National office bearers, who attended the meeting chaired by JD (U) president and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar at his residence, also decided to convene a meeting of party’s national executive committee in the state capital at the end of February.

Although the agenda for the four-hour long meeting was not made public, sources said leaders discussed the poll strategy for approaching the Lok Sabha elections with the intent of winning maximum number of seats for the NDA. The BJP and JD (U) have already finalised a seat sharing deal to contest 17 LS seats each in the state.

The chief minister took feedback on the seats the party would like to contest and also asked the office bearers to galvanise the organisation into a battle-ready mode. In an apparent bid to clear the air over the delay in clarity on specific seats to be contested by the two major allies, the leadership indicated that the allotment of seats would be over after the Parliament session.

The three-member committee of JD(U) state president Bashistha Narayan Singh, Lallan Singh and Bijendra Prasad Yadav has been given the responsibility to complete the process of empaneling prospective nominees so that the leadership may be in a position to announce the names, once specific seats are allocated.

National general secretary KC Tyagi, who attended the meeting, said that the party has decided to stick to its old stand on contentious issues—Article 370, Uniform Civil Code and Ram Temple—and, more recently, its opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Bill for Assam.

Tyagi said that the meeting condemned Congress walkout on the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha. “The JD (U) is determined to oppose the Bill in Rajya Sabha. But we are apprehensive that a similar stand on the issue by Congress in RS may amount to indirect support for the passage of the bill in the Upper House too,” he said.

On its part, the party has tasked a high-level delegation, comprising Tyagi, Prashant Kishore, Aafaque Ahmad and NSN Lotha, to visit Assam and meet leaders of Asom Gana Parishad and All Assam Students’ Union and local people to express JD(U)’s solidarity with their cause.

The party cleared KP Sadique’s candidature for Lakshadweep Lok Sabha seat for the upcoming polls as JD (U) nominee.