JD(U) will merge with RJD soon: Sushil Kumar Modi

The days of BJP in Bihar are over, says Tejashwi Yadav

Senior State BJP leader and party Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday said that “JD(U) will merge with RJD soon as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s political career is nearing to an end”. The ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and State deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav retorted, “days of BJP are finished in Bihar”.

Both the leaders were campaigning for bypolls on two Assembly seats of Mokama and Gopalganj. The bypoll on both seats is scheduled to be held on November 3 and Tuesday was the last day of campaigning. The results will be announced on November 6.

“The merger of RJD and JD(U) is going to happen soon as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is apprehensive of a split in his party. Mr. Kumar thinks that if the merger between two parties will happen, the number of party MLAs will increase in the State Assembly and in this way it will be difficult for party legislators to defect,” senior State BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said while addressing media persons in Gopalganj on Tuesday.

Mr. Modi had gone to Gopalganj to campaign for the BJP candidate in the bypoll. He further said, “End of Nitish Kumar’s politics has come now and he thinks he will never be Chief Minister again.”

The BJP leader also claimed that “several JD(U) MLAs are in touch with the BJP as they’re unhappy with Nitish Kumar’s decision to return with mahagatbandhan [grand alliance] and they are afraid that their seat in next Assembly election will go to the RJD fold”. “The BJP will take the decision on such MLAs when the appropriate time comes”, said Sushil Kumar Modi.

While hitting out at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for not going to campaign for RJD candidates in the bypoll, Sushil Kumar Modi said, “Nitish Kumar is deliberately not going to campaign for candidates on two seats in the bypoll as RJD has given tickets to tainted candidates”. “He [Mr. Kumar] is participating in other functions but not going for campaign citing reasons of him being unwell with wounds”, wondered Sushil Kumar Modi.

The Gopalganj Assembly seat election was necessitated following the untimely death of its sitting BJP MLA and cooperative minister in the previous NDA government Subhash Singh on August 16 this year. Mr. Singh has been winning the seat consecutively since 2005. In the bypoll, BJP has fielded Mr. Singh’s wife Kusum Devi, apparently to garner a sympathy vote.