Grand Alliance 2.0: What political leaders had to say on Nitish Kumar’s move
After Kumar’s announcement to split, several leaders from different political parties had their say on the political chaos in Bihar
Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal-United (JDU) leader Nitish Kumar on Tuesday resigned as the state’s head after severing ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Kumar is set to take oath on Wednesday as the chief minister and for the second time the Grand Alliance of parties will come together in Bihar.
The Grand Alliance will have members of Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress and the Left parties in Bihar.
After his announcement to split, several leaders from different political parties had their say on the political chaos in Bihar.
Also Read: Nitish Kumar and Bihar’s oscillating political landscape
Let’s take a look at what these leaders said on the political situation in Bihar.
• Hailing Kumar’s decision, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav termed the move as a “good start” towards taking a stand against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “It’s a good start. On this day, the slogan of ‘Angrezo Bharat Chhodo’ was given and today the slogan on ‘BJP Bhagaon’ is coming from Bihar. I think, soon political parties and people in different states will stand against BJP”, he said.
• Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Sharad Yadav welcomed the split of the alliance and said, “Better late than never”. He added that if there is consensus on Nitish Kumar being the Prime Ministerial candidate in the 2024 elections, then “he is the most capable one”.
• Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien also had his say on the whole controversy.
“#BiharPolitics Another big reason why PM @narendramodi and @AmitShah ran away and SHUT DOWN #ParliamentMonsoonSession FOUR DAYS EARLY”, he had posted it on his official Twitter account. The monsoon session of Parliament ended four days ahead of schedule.
• Congress’ secretary general Jairam Ramesh also took a swipe at the political row in Bihar. “In March 2020, Modi Sarkar postponed COVID-19 lockdown to engineer the fall of the Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh. Now, it cuts short the Parliament session knowing its coalition government in Bihar is going. What goes up must come down!”, he posted on his official Twitter account.
• Bihar’s BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad hit out at Nitish Kumar saying the latter had insulted the people’s mandate in the state with his second split from the saffron party. Questioning his intent, Prasad asked, “How can you say that the BJP tried to undermine you? Bihar’s public tried to weaken you but Prime Minister Modi made you the chief minister… Did he not win the 2020 election through PM Modi’s leadership?”
• Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) leader Chirag Paswan also condemned Nitish Kumar’s resignation and said, “Today, the credibility of Nitish Kumar is zero.” He added, “We want the President’s rule to be imposed in Bihar and the state should go for fresh elections. Do you (Nitish Kumar) have any ideology or not?”