By Alok Mohit and Vishwapati
PATNA: Janata Dal (United) chief spokesperson Neeraj Kumar on Wednesday said Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar forged an alliance with the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) to pre-empt attempts of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad to “humiliate” allies ahead of Lok Sabha elections.
He said a rift between Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad was inevitable, especially considering the RJD president’s reluctance to accommodate coalition partners within the ticket distribution framework. Nitish Kumar had sensed RJD’s plan and charted his own path, leaving the RJD-Congress alliance to embrace the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the senior JD(U) leader said.
Neeraj Kumar, who is also a JD(U) MLC, made the claim referring to the RJD riding roughshod over the Congress. He said the Congress had been a trusted partner of the RJD, though the alliance had caused it to lose its vote share over the years. But Lalu Prasad had been unilaterally giving party tickets to candidates, without entering into a formal seat-sharing arrangement with Congress, he said.
“What type of alliance do the RJD and the Congress have where former is giving away party tickets to people at will, paying scant regard to the interests of the latter?” Neeraj Kumar asked.
Among the seats where Lalu Yadav has given tickets is Aurangabad, where the Congress wanted to filed former MP and former Kerala governor Nikhil Kumar. In Purnia, the Congress had assured party ticket to former MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav when he merged his Jan Adhikar Party with it last week. However, the RJD has reportedly promised ticket to JD(U) turncoat Bima Bharti from this constituency.
“It was not for nothing that Nitish Kumar had been seeking early seat-sharing in the INDIA bloc. He had sensed the RJD’s plans to humiliate allies. So, he taught them a lesson,” Neeraj Kumar added.
Authors Alok Mohit is former senior News Editor of Hindustan Times Patna and Chandigarh editions; can be contacted at mohit.alok19@gmail.com and Viswapati is a senior journalist based in Patna
