PATNA: The Janata Dal (United)’s two-day national executive and national council meet concluded in Patna on Sunday, with the party authorising chief minister Nitish Kumar to work for larger opposition unity across the country in a bid to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, said a JD(U) functionary.
“The CM told the national council members that there can never be any alliance with the BJP while dwelling on the reasons that compelled him to sever ties in August for the second time. He also spoke about how BJP conspired in 2020 to weaken JD(U) through the Chirag Paswan formula and that the country is anxiously waiting for an alternative to BJP’s misrule,” JD(U) general secretary KC Tyagi said while talking to media persons after the meeting.
Tyagi said that the JD(U) was of the opinion that without the Congress and the left parties, it would not be possible to build a formidable opposition against the BJP, while Telangana CM K Chandrashekhar Rao was in favour of a non-BJP, non-Congress alliance. “The national executive and council of the party authorised Nitish Kumar to strive for Opposition unity, which is the need of the hour and requires all Opposition parties to come together for the larger cause of saving democracy,” he said.
The CM after the meeting said that he would visit Delhi on Monday and meet senior leaders from the opposition parties to work out a plan to build a united opposition. “I don’t give any numbers, but a united opposition, burying small differences, will certainly deliver tremendous success”, he said, when asked about his reported statement on Saturday at the national executive meeting that the BJP would be confined to around 50 seats in 2024.
Kumar said that during his Delhi stay, he would also call on President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar. “The leaders of four of the seven parties in Bihar’s coalition are also in Delhi. The effort is to build an Opposition alliance, which is important for 2024. The key thing for 2024 is to unite the Opposition,” he said.
The JD(U) conclave was of the view that the country was passing through a critical phase, with democratic and Constitutional values being constantly undermined by an increasingly authoritarian Centre.
“Prices of essential commodities are skyrocketing and farmers, who are struggling for seeds and fertilizers are not getting even the support price. Due to growing financial constraints, they are committing suicide and when they protest, they have to face life-threatening attacks, as was seen in Lakhimpur Kheri,” said a statement from the JD(U).
The JD(U) also questioned the start of the Agniveer scheme and termed it a security risk for the country. “What kind of modernisation of forces is this? Those who ask questions are branded ‘Urban Naxali’, and the right to dissent is viewed as treason to silence the Opposition’s voice. Central agencies are being used as weapons by the Centre to create an atmosphere of undeclared emergency in the country. Their actions against non-BJP governments in states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Delhi are a testimony to this. The country is watching and the BJP today is left without any ally,” the party said in its statement.
