JD(U)‘s Kushwaha warns Nitish Kumar that party could be ‘destroyed’ as rift widens
The Hindu
JD(U)‘s Upendra Kushwaha accuses Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of not granting him ‘even 5 minutes’ for discussion
The rift widens in Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal (United) on Friday when the party’s parliamentary board chairman Upendra Kushwaha warned Chief Minister Nitish Kumar that if he did not save the JD(U), it would be “destroyed” soon.
Mr. Kushwaha also pointed out that he did not return to the JD(U) on his own and both times it was Mr. Kumar who requested him to join the party.
“The Chief Minister is saying that I left the party and returned two-three times. I must tell him that I am not the only such leader in the party. There are many more, 95% of the current leaders have left and returned to the party and even gone to other parties as well including the national president (Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh) of the party.
“I have returned to the party twice. First in December 2009, then in March 2021. Both times, it was Nitish ji who asked me to return. Whenever Nitish ji has become weak, he has called me. I never approached him to return to the party,” Mr. Kushwaha said from his official residence in Patna.
His statement comes a day after the Bihar Chief Minister asked him to quit the party, to which Mr. Kushwaha had reacted saying that he will not leave without his share.
For the past few months, there has been strong speculation that Mr. Kushwaha was exploring a possible return to the NDA fold as his role in the JD(U) has been limited largely due to the formation of the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar.
Mr. Kumar has been projecting Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav as his successor, which has greatly pained Mr. Kushwaha because he had merged his party with the aim to attain the second position after Mr. Kumar.
While residents are worried over deaths due to diarrhoea in Vijayawada, officials still grapple to find the root cause. Contaminated drinking water supplied by VMC officials is the reason, insist people in the affected areas, but officials insist that efforts are on to identify the disease and that those with symptoms other than diarrhoea too are visiting the health camps.