RJD asks Nitish to join grand alliance in Bihar

Patna: In a major political development, the RJD has asked chief minister Nitish Kumar to join hands with like-minded parties to fight against the BJP.

According to senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, “BJP has an absolute majority and Nitish Kumar is of no use to them. He along with other regional parties should come together to stop the BJP in 2020 assembly election”.

Mr Singh further said that “lack of coordination in Mahagathbandhan was one of the reasons behind our defeat in the Lok Sabha election. Those who had no candidates were also given many seats. We need to strengthen Mahagathbandhan to defeat the BJP in 2020 assembly election”.

RJD’s offer comes a day after Nitish Kumar inducted eight JD(U) MLAs as Cabinet ministers, leaving out BJP and LJP, leading to fresh speculation of rift in the NDA.

JD(U) with 16 seats has emerged as a third largest party in the NDA. Sources said that the RJD and others including Jitan Ram Manjhi started sending signals to Nitish Kumar after he refused BJP’s offer to join the central Cabinet on Thursday.

A similar offer was made in 2018 but Tejashwi Yadav had rejected it by saying that “doors of the grand Alliance have been shut for Nitish Kumar”.

Nitish Kumar had walked out of the grand alliance in July 2017 after CBI raided RJD chief Lalu Yadav’s residence in connection with a corruption case and also registered an FIR against his younger son Tejashwi Yadav who was the deputy chief minister.

Within 24 hours of the collapse of grand alliance, Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the chief minister of NDA government along with BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi who took oath as deputy chief minister.

Sources, however, claim that Tejashwi Yadav who has been declared as the chief ministerial candidate by a section in the RJD may not like Raghuvansh Prasad Singh’s offer to Nitish Kumar.