The Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) announced that it will not be a part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) outside Bihar. The party has decided to fight the upcoming assembly elections alone in Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Haryana and Delhi.
"The national executive expressed confidence that after an excellent performance in Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, JD(U) will also now also have a strong presence in Delhi, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana. Our USP is our job and, thanks to that, we will also grow in other states," a tweet from the official Twitter handle of JD(U) said.
The party had also clarified that their alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is limited only to the state of Bihar, in March this year. JD(U) National General Secretary KC Tyagi had reportedly said that the party is independent in all the other states.
Sunday's National Executive Meeting came days after the party declined to be part of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre as the party did not agree with the symbolic representation offered to it through one ministerial berth.
Responding to a question about senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh's suggestion about all non-BJP parties joining hands, Tyagi reportedly said that the executive meeting was necessary only to complete the party's organisational election and that JD(U) will continue to be a part of NDA.
In today's meeting, Nitish Kumar also asserted saying, "Do not have any illusions in mind. We are in NDA, we will be in NDA and we will fight the 2020 elections in Bihar together."
The JD(U) had earlier broken ties with BJP in 2013 and joined hands with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), causing a massive defeat for BJP in the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections. But an alliance with BJP was soon formed back in 2017.
In the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, NDA won 39 our 40 seats in the state.
The Election Commission also granted JD(U) recognition in Arunachal Pradesh as a state party on June 7. The party had won seven out of the 60 seats in the state, finishing second after BJP, which won 41 seats, in the recent polls. This move comes as a major boost for JD(U) to get the national party status.
