Weighing in on the big churn in the JD(U) on Friday, which saw Lalan Singh stepping down as the party’s national chairman and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar returning to the top post, Union Minister Giriraj Singh on Saturday said there was a dark cloud hanging over the ruling party in the state.
Speaking to ANI on Saturday, the senior BJP leader reiterated his earlier statement that all doors to Nitish’s return to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) were closed.
To a specific question on whether the BJP-led NDA could consider the return of the Bihar CM to the saffron fold, the Union Minister said, “No, our doors are closed for him. There’s no way back for him to the NDA. You should put the same question to Vijay Choudhary-ji [of the JD(U)] and Manoj Jha-ji (RJD MP). We are neither happy (over rumours of Nitish’s return to NDA) nor weeping. It isn’t my business to talk about them.”
“All that I would say is that there’s a dark cloud hanging over the JD(U) as we head into a new year. The eclipse (over Nitish and his party) will not pass as long as (RJD patriarch and former Bihar CM) Lalu (Yada)-ji is there. Lalu-ji won’t rest till the ruling alliance (in Bihar) is broken,” Singh said.
Earlier, on Friday, Janata Dal (United) Friday saw a change at its helm as the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was unanimously re-elected as president of the party at a meeting of the party’s national executive in Delhi.
Later, speaking to reporters after the party’s national council meeting in Delhi, he said that he had accepted the post of the national president of the party.
“I have accepted the post of the national president of the party…” he said.
It came after Rajiv Ranjan Singh, popularly known as Lalan Singh, resigned from the post.
It is not the first time when Nitish Kumar has taken over as the president of the party. In 2016, he became party president after replacing Sharad Yadav. A year later, Kumar broke the ruling alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and joined hands with the BJP.
Last year, Nitish Kumar ended his five-year-long association with the BJP again and reunited with the RJD.
Later, JD(U) spokesperson KC Tyagi rejected rumours of a tiff between the two leaders.
“Our party remains united, there are no differences between Nitish Kumar and Lalan Singh,” he said.
“Four proposals were passed including a political caste-based census at the national level. In January, Nitish Kumar will start a campaign starting from Jharkhand. He authorised to negotiate with allies for seat sharing agreement,” Tyagi said.
Tyagi further called the Bihar CM the ‘prime minister of ideas’ of the Opposition bloc INDIA- an alliance forged for putting up a united front against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls under the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance umbrella.
“(Bihar CM) Nitish Kumar is the convenor and Prime Minister of the ideas of the INDIA alliance. He has given so much priority to the issue of social justice,” Tyagi said.
Earlier, Bihar Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary confirmed the offer of resignation from Lalan Singh saying “There is a national executive meeting of JD(U) going on. If they accept our proposal, then Nitish Kumar will be the party president. Lalan Singh told CM Nitish Kumar that he will be busy with elections, so he wants to hand over the post of party president to him and Nitish Kumar accepted it…” (ANI)
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