‘The Congress should have played a more active role to take care of the needs of regional parties. It failed.’
‘Taking this into account, Nitishji took the final decision with the full support of the JD-U.’
IMAGE: INDIA leaders at a media interaction in New Delhi, December 19, 2023. Photograph: Ishant/ANI Photo
Neeraj Kumar is an outspoken senior leader of the Janata Dal-United, known to give a tough time to anyone he views as inimical to JD-U President Nitish Kumar.
A JD-U MLC, Neeraj Kumar attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party and its agenda when the JD-U was in alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal; he denounced RJD President Lalu Yadav and his family when the JD-U aligned with the BJP.
Days after Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the chief minister of the JD-U-BJP government, political circles are abuzz that he will be forced to play second fiddle to the BJP.
The JD-U has 45 MLAs in the Bihar assembly; the BJP has 78 MLAs.
“There will be no compromise on triple C: Corruption, Crime and Communalism,” Neeraj Kumar tells Rediff.com Senior Contributor M I Khan.
Why did the JD-U pull out of the Mahagathbandan?
The break up of the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar is the result of non seriousness on the part of top leaders of the INDIA bloc.
It was Nitish ji who worked hard for Opposition unity last year. INDIA was formulated by him, he was the main architect.
But none of the political parties in INDIA was serious about taking the move forward.
Nothing happened in the last six to seven months despite repeated concern expressed by Nitishji to speed up and finalise everything.
Look, there was no talk in INDIA about a joint rally, a joint campaign and nothing about a common minimum programme.
When Lalu Prasad Yadav publicly stated that there was no hurry to finalise seat sharing among different parties of INDIA for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, it was a bad signal.
This was contrary to what the JD-U and Nitish ji had stressed — to finalise seat sharing at the earliest to face the challenge of the powerful BJP.
Opposition alliance INDIA ke kisi bhi political party ko chinta nahi tha, koi tension nahi tha, aise kaam nahi chalta hai (No political party was bothered or concerned about INDIA).
After such developments, there was no meaning in continuing with INDIA.
Left with no option, we decided to dump the Mahagathbandhan and quit INDIA.
Who was responsible for such a situation in INDIA?
The Congress is a big and national party, the responsibility to accommodate regional parties lies with the Congress.
We were saying for months that Opposition unity without the Congress is not possible and meaningless.
The Congress should have played a more active role to take care of the needs of regional parties. It failed.
Taking this into account, Nitishji took the final decision with the full support of the JD-U.
IMAGE: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar lays a wreath at Gandhi Ghat, in Patna, January 30, 2024, on Mahatma Gandhi’s 76th death anniversary. Photograph: ANI Photo
Was that the main reason to dump the Mahagathbandhan and INDIA?
We joined the Mahagathbandhan in August 2022 and soon after Nitish ji announced he would work for Opposition unity.
Last year, Nitishji united the Opposition and INDIA came into existence with an aim to take on the BJP in the 2024 polls.
But the way things moving in INDIA it was opposite to our aim. Nitishji has time and again categorically stated that he did not wanted any post, only a strong united Opposition, which was not in the making following one or other development.
The JD-U’s aim was disturbed because Nitishji was working for an alternative that was not in the making due to the non seriousness of some leaders.
if we continued with them, our mass base would have finished. We did not take this risk.
After the JD-U joined hands with the BJP and formed the NDA government on January 28, some BJP leaders expressed reservations over the latest alliance with Nitish Kumar.
This is a BJP problem and the BJP will deal with it. The alliance with the JD-U was decided by the BJP’s national leadership and we are comfortable with it.
There will be no difficulty from our side in coordination.
But one thing is clear: If a question is raised about Nitish Kumar’s integrity, we will counter it vigorously, whoever is our alliance partner.
How you see the BJP decision to promote Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, two vocal critics of Nitish Kumar, as deputy chief minister?
Both worked with Nitishji in the previous NDA government, they understand and know his style of working and functioning.
We expect better coordination. We can assure that there will be no issue of coordination from the JD-U to run the government and the alliance.
IMAGE: Nitish Kumar with Bihar Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha. Photograph: Kind courtesy BJP Bihar/Twitter
Is it not true that this return to the NDA has hurt Nitish Kumar’s credibility like never before?
What credibility? We (the JD-U) were with the BJP in 2020 and in 2022 we were with the RJD. Similarly in 2015, we were with the RJD after we dumped the BJP in 2013, again we were with the BJP in 2017.
The BJP and RJD welcomed Nitishji. Why single out Nitish Kumar for changing sides? Kya kewal Nitish Kumar hi credibility ke thekedar hai? (Is Nitish Kumar the sole custodian of credibility?)
What will be the main agenda of this new government led by Nitish Kumar?
Nitishji is known for rule of law and development.
This government is committed to implementing our resolve of development and will work to take the state forward .
Development is our main asset and issue to reach out to people.
There will be no compromise on triple C: Corruption, Crime and Communalism.
What about the Lok Sabha elections?
The NDA will sweep the polls in Bihar. In the last Lok Sabha polls, the BJP contested 17 seats and won 17; the JD-U contested 17 and won 16; an ally, the LJP, won 6 seats.
With the JD-U and BJP together, we will repeat it.
It was decided at the JD-U legislature party meeting hours ahead of the new NDA government led by Nitishji that the JD-U and BJP will contest the 2025 Bihar assembly polls together in alliance.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
