Tejashwi warns of JD(U)-BJP merger
RJD working president Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday alleged that the JD(U), headed by former Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, has become a "B team" of the BJP which could "merge" with the saffron party in the future.
The former Deputy CM made the claim while citing the JD(U)'s inability to come out with a clear stand on the Uniform Civil Code and Nitish Kumar making way for a BJP-led government in the state a few months ago.
"I have been saying that JD(U) is now just a B team of the BJP. In the days to come, it will merge with the BJP. (JDU working president) Sanjay Jha is at work to ensure a smooth merger. We had said that Nitish Kumar will not be allowed to remain the chief minister and see what happened," said Yadav.
He was responding to queries about the JD(U)'s reluctance to take a clear stand in the wake of Union Home Minister Amit Shah's statement that "UCC will be implemented across 22 NDA-ruled states by 2029".
JD(U) leaders have sought to buy time, asserting that the party would "study the provisions" of the proposed legislation, after which Jha will hold talks with Shah.
Yadav, who is also the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, reiterated that the RJD's stand on the issue "has been clear from the very beginning that we are against imposition of any such code and stoutly opposed to it".
The RJD leader's statement came hours after his party colleague Bhai Virendra held out an olive branch to the JD(U), urging the BJP ally to quit the NDA and help formation of a "Mahagathbandhan government headed by Tejashwi Yadav".
The JDU has its ideological roots in the socialist movement, and there have been statements from its leaders which suggest that the party was opposed to the UCC, Virendra said.
"So, in this backdrop, I call upon Nitish Kumar and his son Nishant to snap ties with BJP and help the formation of a Mahagathbandhan government. Let me make it clear that I am not in touch with any leader of that party. I have made a statement on the basis of principles", he said.
Notably, a section of JD(U) leaders, including former national general secretary Shyam Rajak and Nalanda MP Kaushalendra Kumar, have stated that the party's stand would be in line with the one taken by Nitish Kumar in the past, when he had said, "We shall support the UCC bill in Parliament but oppose implementation of the same in Bihar."
Besides, a letter purportedly written by the JD(U) supremo in 2017, when he was in the Mahagathbandhan, has also been shared widely on social media, in which the then Bihar chief minister had urged the Law Commission to ensure that states were "not forced" to implement UCC.
Virendra was also asked whether he would agree to have Nishant Kumar become the chief minister since the JD(U) has 85 MLAs as against the RJD's tally of 25.
He replied, "The question does not arise. Whenever a government is formed with our party, it will have Tejashwi Yadav as the chief minister."
