Dal rules out return to RJD fold

Patna: Chief minister Nitish Kumar’s confidant and Rajya Sabha member RCP Singh on Wednesday declared that there is no chance of the Janata Dal United “compromising” with the RJD.

Peppered with questions from journalists on whether Nitish writing to the 15th Finance Commission with regard to special category status for Bihar was a signal that the JDU is considering a return to the Grand Alliance, Singh rejected it outright.

“We are not returning to the RJD at any cost. Do you expect us to compromise with a person who is in jail (RJD chief Lalu Prasad)? One should not even think of it because there is no chance of JDU going back to the RJD,” Singh said at his residence.

A series of incidents have led up to buzz that all is not well between the JDU and the BJP.

The first was when when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had rejected the demand of Nitish granting central university status to Patna University during Modi’s visit to Patna in October last year.

The rejection was seen as an insult to Nitish, who had requested the Prime Minister with folded hands in a public meeting.

The second instance in which the tug of war between the JDU and the BJP was visible was when the JDU initially declared that it would not contest the Jehanabad bypoll but later changed its stand and contested the bypoll.

It was believed that the JDU did so because of pressure from the BJP.

Later, Nitish himself accepted that his party contested the bypoll due to pressure from the saffron party.

More recently, Nitish questioning the role of banks and blaming them for the failure to pass on demonetisation’s benefits to the people was perceived as a veiled criticism of the note ban – the Prime Minister’s big idea.

Asked about any crack in the JDU-BJP ties, Singh said: “The NDA is intact in Bihar and all is well and it is always well. We will remain in the NDA. We broke the alliance with the RJD on the issue of corruption; do you think that we will ever go back? Don’t even think.”

Courtesy: The Telegraph