The Kerala unit of the Janata Dal-United on Thursday unleashed scathing criticisms against party’s Bihar strongman Nitish Kumar for joining hands with the BJP to form Government. leaders of the Kerala JD(U) indicated that they might opt to remain as a national-level outfit by forging unity among those who were opposing Nitish’s leadership or to stand as a separate entity in the State in the new situation.
The development in the JD(U) has prompted the CPI(M), heading the ruling lDF, to renew its efforts to rope in that party to the left camp. However, the JD(U) leaders who had till a few days back expressed interest in such a move said no discussions were taking place in the party over this. The Kerala JD(U) is presently a constituent of the Congress-led Opposition UDF. The State JD(U) has already conveyed to party president Sharad Yadav its protests over the Nitish move. “We cannot go along the national leadership in the new situation”, a top leader of the Kerala JD(U) said on Thursday while commenting on the decision of Nitish Kumar to join hands with the BJP to form a new government in less than a day of resigning as Chief Minister.
“We had suspicions about him even earlier. We had opposed his decision to support the NDA nominee in the President election. The Kerala party doesn’t accept this kind of politics. We will take a decision after our State president, MP Veerendrakumar (Rajya Sabha member), returns from Delhi after the Parliament session,” said the leader. leaders said they would hold discussions with like-minded JD(U) functionaries in other parts of the country and consider a national level arrangement if they were ready for such a formation. If that move failed, the Kerala JD(U) would have no option but to remain as a separate party in the State, senior party leader Varghese George told the media on Thursday.
In Delhi, Veerendrakumar endorsed the views expressed by his party colleagues in Kerala by saying that the party would hold a meeting of the State council to discuss the matter. “However, we have already taken one decision. We will never be part of a JD(U) led by Nitish Kumar,” he said. The meeting is expected to take place in the second week of August. “What has taken place in Bihar is shocking. We cannot accept it. The goal of the grand alliance was to fight fascism not just in Bihar but in the entire country. Everybody expected Nitish Kumar to lead that battle. But he has chosen to join the alliance led by the BJP. The hope of the grand alliance has now shattered,” he said.
“I call on Sharad Yadav and all MPs of the party to stand up and say that they do not accept (what Nitish Kumar has done). Our party cannot agree with the BJP’s Hindutwa ideology,” Veerendrakumar said.
Varghese George ruled out the possibility of his party going back to the Janata Dal (Secular), of which it was a part till eight years ago. He also said reviving the Socialist Janata –Democratic, the former Avatar of the Kerala JD(U), was also difficult.
Veerendrakumar and others formed the SJ-D after leaving the Janata Dal (S), an lDF constituent, following the CPI(M) decision to take over the Kozhikode seat, which he used to contest, in the 2009 lok Sabha election and joined the UDF. The SJ-D merged with the JD-U in December, 2014. Even after the merger, it stayed with the Congress-led front.
Meanwhile, the CPI(M) on Thursday extended an indirect invitation the JD(U) into the lDF. State CPI(M) secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said, “let the JD(U) take a clear political stand. We can consider the matter of its entry into the lDF after that,” he said. Kodiyeri had made a similar call to the JD(U) a few weeks ago.