JDU Leader Confronts Nitish Kumar On Party's Tie-Up With BJP In Delhi

Janta Dal (United) senior leader Pawan Kumar Verma on Tuesday asked Bihar Chief Nitish Kumar, why the party decided to ally with the BJP in the Delhi Assembly polls despite its differences with the centre over amended Citizenship Act. In a tweet on Tuesday, senior JD(U) leader Pavan K Varma posted a photo of the letter he wrote to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar where he asked the party chief how an alliance was formed with the BJP for the Delhi elections.

This is the letter I have written to ⁦@NitishKumar⁩ today asking him how the JD(U) has formed an alliance with the BJP for the Delhi elections, given his own views on the BJP, and the massive national outrage against the divisive CAA-NPR-NRC scheme. pic.twitter.com/ErSynnuiYm

— Pavan K. Varma (@PavanK_Varma) January 21, 2020

"This is the letter I have written to Nitish Kumar today asking him how the JD(U) has formed an alliance with the BJP for the Delhi elections, given his own views on the BJP, and the massive national outrage against the divisive CAA-NPR-NRC scheme," JD(U) leader Pavan K Varma said attaching a photo of the letter. The BJP on Monday allotted two seats to JD(U) in Delhi. 

Varma in his letter also quoted from their private conversations where the chief minister had been severely critical about the BJP and underscored that he had been unable to reconcile the line advocated by the JDU constitution, Kumar’s private feelings and the party’s actions in public.

“Politics, as you have emphasized to us, must be about principle and the courage of conviction,” Varma, the JDU national general secretary and national spokesperson, said.

Saying the alliance has "deeply perplexed" him, Pavan Varma wrote in the letter, "I look to you for ideological clarity. On more than one occasion, you have expressed your apprehensions about the BJP-RSS combine."

"When you were leading the mahagathbandhan, you had openly made a call for RSS-mukt Bharat. These views, articulated for a sustained period, are a matter of public record," Pavan K Varma said.

Verma, later addressed the media where he said, "Nitish Kumar hasn't clarified party's stand on NRC-CAA so far. He should clarify his stand on the issue. I will remain with the party or not will be decided once Nitish ji replies to my letter."