NEW DELHI: On a day when Congress and other opposition parties took potshots at Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for his return to NDA, JD(U) and BJP on Monday mounted a strong defence of their alliance as the two accused Congress of trying to weaken regional parties.
Senior JD (U) functionary, K C Tyagi, said that Congress was focusing on getting hold of important posts, weakening the regional parties, while JD(U) was trying to strengthen the alliance.
“Coordination could not be established between INDIA parties. From the outside, everything appeared normal but Congress was doing politics with the alliance parties,” Tyagi said.
The JD(U) leader said, “While we were working to strengthen the alliance, Congress was busy grabbing the important posts. They were trying to weaken SP, DMK, Trinamool and other regional parties. Rahul Gandhi even once said that regional parties don’t have an ideology. Due to this, we broke our association with the alliance.”
Asked about Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s statement that the return to NDA was pre-planned by JD(U), Tyagi said if it was pre-planned, why did his party organise the first meeting of INDIA bloc in Patna? “Why did we bring Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and Akhilesh Yadav with an ‘achhut’ (untouchable) party like Congress? This happened after Mamata Banerjee in Delhi proposed Kharge as INDIA bloc’s Prime Ministerial candidate. Congress always wanted to grab this post,” Tyagi added.
Earlier, the Congress chief had alleged that JD(U) and BJP ‘planned’ to break INDIA bloc. “Such decisions can’t be taken in a hurry. This shows it was all pre-planned. To break INDIA bloc, they (BJP-JD(U)) planned all this. He (Nitish Kumar) kept us in the dark; he kept Lalu Yadav in the dark,” Kharge said.
BJP spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said that Congress should look at its own track record rather than questioning other parties. “Congress has no locus standi to talk about any ideology change. It is the same party which joined hands with Arvind Kejriwal who used to call Sonia Gandhi a corrupt person, the same Kejriwal demanded that Rajiv Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna be taken back.”
Senior JD (U) functionary, K C Tyagi, said that Congress was focusing on getting hold of important posts, weakening the regional parties, while JD(U) was trying to strengthen the alliance.
“Coordination could not be established between INDIA parties. From the outside, everything appeared normal but Congress was doing politics with the alliance parties,” Tyagi said.
The JD(U) leader said, “While we were working to strengthen the alliance, Congress was busy grabbing the important posts. They were trying to weaken SP, DMK, Trinamool and other regional parties. Rahul Gandhi even once said that regional parties don’t have an ideology. Due to this, we broke our association with the alliance.”
Asked about Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s statement that the return to NDA was pre-planned by JD(U), Tyagi said if it was pre-planned, why did his party organise the first meeting of INDIA bloc in Patna? “Why did we bring Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and Akhilesh Yadav with an ‘achhut’ (untouchable) party like Congress? This happened after Mamata Banerjee in Delhi proposed Kharge as INDIA bloc’s Prime Ministerial candidate. Congress always wanted to grab this post,” Tyagi added.
Earlier, the Congress chief had alleged that JD(U) and BJP ‘planned’ to break INDIA bloc. “Such decisions can’t be taken in a hurry. This shows it was all pre-planned. To break INDIA bloc, they (BJP-JD(U)) planned all this. He (Nitish Kumar) kept us in the dark; he kept Lalu Yadav in the dark,” Kharge said.
BJP spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said that Congress should look at its own track record rather than questioning other parties. “Congress has no locus standi to talk about any ideology change. It is the same party which joined hands with Arvind Kejriwal who used to call Sonia Gandhi a corrupt person, the same Kejriwal demanded that Rajiv Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna be taken back.”