Nitish Kumar pushes grand alliance plan

Patna: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Monday pushed plans for a grand alliance of Opposition parties to stop the BJP’s surge, and urged the Congress and the Left parties to throw the BJP-led NDA out of power in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

“The BJP’s victory in UP was mainly because of lack of a Bihar-like ‘mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance) there ... If you add the vote percentage of the SP, the Congress and the BSP, it is 10 per cent more than the votes polled by the BJP,” he told mediapersons here.

Mr Kumar, who is also the JD(U) national president, said, “A Bihar-like grand alliance is the solution to check the BJP’s surge, and for this the Congress and the Left parties should take the initiative. A mahagathbandhan like this at the national level will be maha safal (a grand success).”

Mr Kumar, the architect of Bihar’s grand alliance comprising the JD(U), the RJD and the Congress, said, “Being a bigger party, it is the Congress’ responsibility to take the initiative of bringing all major non-BJP parties on one platform. I had talks with some Left leaders, and I wish they take an initiative to throw the BJP-led NDA out of power in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls,” he said after his weekly Lok Samvad (public interaction) programme.

“The Congress emerged victorious in Punjab and as the single largest party in Goa and Manipur. So it is wrong to read that the results are tilted towards the BJP. They (BJP) managed to form government in Goa and Manipur by ‘jor-tor’ (cobbling numbers),” he said.