BH-LD NITISH

No rift within NDA, we will return to power in Bihar in 2020
with over 200 seats: Nitish
(Eds: adding details)
Patna, Sep 20 (PTI) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on
Friday categorically dismissed any rift within the alliance
and predicted that the NDA will win more than 200 seats in the
next year Assembly election.
He further asserted that those trying to create a fissure
between his JD(U) and alliance partner BJP will be in trouble.
Addressing the state council meeting of the Janata Dal
(United), of which he is the national president, Kumar lashed
out at his detractors charging them with "lacking political
acumen and trying to gain publicity by launching personal
attacks on me..many of them later privately confiding that
they did so because it was their USP".
"I would advise my party spokesmen, do not get drawn into
all this. Express the party position on issues firmly but
avoid reacting to every slanderous remark that may be made
against me, Kumar said.
"Try to recall the 2010 assembly poll days. Skeptics were
doubting that we will get majority. We ended up winning 206
out of 243 seats. Rest assured we will cross 200 next year,
Kumar said evoking applause.
NDA had won 39 out of a total 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar
recently.
The state will see poll by the end of 2020.
"There are many who think there is ghachpach (something
amiss) in our alliance. It is not so. Those trying to do
ghachpach are going to be in trouble (bura haal hone waala
hai), let me assure you, Kumar added.
The JD(U) national presidents statement assumes
significance in the backdrop of recent statements by some BJP
leaders who had favoured the party pressing for having its own
Chief Minister after the assembly polls next year.
Kumar has been at the helm since 2005 when the JD(U)-BJP
combine ousted Lalu Prasads RJD, which had ruled the state
for more than a decade.
In 2013, Kumar snapped ties with the BJP and went on to
form the Grand Alliance with Prasad, his arch rival, and the
Congress, which won the 2015 assembly polls handsomely. He
returned to the NDA in 2017.
The BJP-led coalition in Bihar now includes Ram Vilas
Paswans LJP.
Kumar also took a veiled dig at the RJD and its leader
Tejashwi Yadav, mentioning neither by name. Some RJD veterans
like Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Shivanand Tiwary had, after
the party drew a blank in the Lok Sabha polls this year, begun
to speak in favour of a fresh tie-up with Kumar.
The proposal, however, met with outright rejection by
Tejashwi Yadav, who is Prasads younger son and was Kumars
deputy in the short-lived Grand Alliance government.
Notably, money laundering cases lodged against Tejashwi
and the RJDs stout refusal to heed demands for his
resignation had led Kumar to abruptly walk out of the grand
alliance.
"Some of their leaders say let us have some sort of
understanding. Another says, no it is not needed. Who is even
thinking of them", Kumar said berating the opposition party
which was drubbed in 2010 but made a dramatic comeback five
years later when it contested the assembly polls in alliance
with his JD(U).
"It has been my philosophy and that of JD(U), which has
its roots in the Samata Party floated under the leadership of
late George Fernandes believe in work. All through the years
we have been in power we have not neglected any social
segment. And we have been steadfast in our zero tolerance for
crime, corruption and communalism, Kumar said.
And do not worry if we get any negative publicity in the
media. We have the support of millions of people who may not
be vocal in expressing their opinions in public but who
decisively vote in our favour, he added.
Earlier, at the function, veteran leader Vashistha
Narayan Singh was declared elected as the state unit president
for his third consecutive term. The state council meeting was
attended by the JD(U)s top office bearers. PTI NAC
SNS SNS

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)