New Delhi, Aug 12:
Nitish Kumar is expected to complete his return to the NDA fold sooner rather than later, and according to a media report he will formally announce his decision at the party’s national executive meeting in Patna on August 19.
A News 18 report states that BJP president Amit Shah extended the invite during their meeting on Delhi on Friday.
Party’s national general secretary KC Tyagi was quoted saying, “Nitish Kumar himself will moot the proposal which will be passed unanimously. This is a historic moment for Bihar when the same alliance is at the helm of affairs in the state and at the Centre. The combined efforts of Centre and state will help the state reach new heights of development.”
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief Amit Shah on Saturday announced that he has extended an invitation to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of joining the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
This is the first official development between Nitish and the BJP, post the debacle last month, with Nitish Kumar resigning as the Bihar Chief Minister and breaking ties with the grand alliance and then forming the government with the saffron party. The Bihar Chief Minister also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Bihar CM snapped ties with NDA in 2013 after spending 17 years with BJP. A leader close to Nitish told News 18 that PM Modi wanted to ‘harness the potential of Nitish Kumar at the national level’.
The JD(U) will reportedly be offered two managerial berths in the Centre, however it will take time as the party will try to replace Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar with new members in Rajya Sabha.
The Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) on Saturday said that senior party leader Sharad Yadav was replaced by Ram Chander Singh in the Rajya Sabha due to his anti-party activities.
Speaking to ANI, MP Vashistha Narayan Singh said, ‘This was important and was done due to Sharad Yadav’s anti-party activities.’
He further said that the members of Parliament, whether they belong to the Rajya Sabha or the Lok Sabha, showed their disappointment to the authorities regarding Sharad Yadav’s three-day Jan Samvad Yatra, which started on August 10.
‘We unanimously elected Ram Chandar as our leader in Rajya Sabha,’ Singh said, adding that it was an important step, because “a leader getting involved in anti-party activities is not good.’
‘The whole party agreed to Nitish Kumar’s decision to dissociate itself from the grand alliance in Bihar,’ he added.
The party is going to have a committee meeting on August 19 that will take the final decision, Singh said.
Earlier today, Sharad Yadav claimed that he had sent fellow party leader Ali Anwar Ansari to attend a meeting of opposition parties convened by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, so that Bihar-like grand alliance is replicated countrywide.
Sharad Yadav kickstarted his three-day Jan Samvad Yatra on August 10.
