LIVE | ‘Will stay together’: Nitish after taking oath as Bihar CM in NDA fold

Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Sunday welcomed JD(U) president Nitish Kumar’s decision to join the BJP-led NDA, calling it “better late than ever”.

The central minister of state for social justice and empowerment said Kumar has taken the right decision at the right time to be a part of the NDA.

“We had told Nitish ji not to go with Lalu Yadav (RJD chief) saying ‘they won’t treat you well’. But better late than never... I had told him to align with Modi ji… Now, he has made the right decision, so I am thanking him,” Athawale told reporters.

The Union minister claimed that the opposition grouping has got a big blow due to Kumar’s departure. “Narendra Modi will become prime minister again in 2024. Nobody can stop the ‘vikas rath’ of Narendra Modi and we all are sitting on it,” Athawale said.

Athawale, who is the president of the Republican Party of India (A), also took a potshot at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ongoing Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

“When the Congress government was there for 70 years, why Rahul Gandhi’s party did not unite the country? The Constitution is already uniting the country. Narendra Modi is there to do this. Gandhi should rather take a yatra to unite the Congress,” he said.

Referring to Gandhi’s defeat in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi constituency, earlier considered a secure political base for his family, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Athawale quipped that the Congress leader should be worried about his own party.

(With agency inputs)

JD(U) president Nitish Kumar’s newly-formed alliance with BJP would unravel before the 2025 Assembly polls in Bihar, political-strategist-turned-activist Prashant Kishor claimed on Sunday.

Kishor also claimed that the BJP could end up paying a “huge price” for realigning with Kumar, after declaring that its doors were shut for the leader by whom it was ditched less than 18 months ago.

“Nitish Kumar’s volte-face is no surprise. I had been saying that he would not remain with the Mahagathbandhan ever since he had joined the combine,” Kishor told reporters in Begusarai district of the state which he was touring as part of his Jan Suraaj campaign.

“But today’s development proves that if Nitish is ‘palturam’ (weathercock), Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are no different. The BJP seems to have made a calculation in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. But it will pay a huge price in the assembly polls due next year,” he said.

Kishore, who has worked closely in his professional capacity for both Modi and the JD(U) supremo, said the BJP will have a tough time explaining to its voters why it backed Kumar, despite having said that its doors were closed for him.

“I make another prediction and you can catch me if I am proven wrong. The alliance that has been formed will not last till the assembly polls. In fact, it may come apart within a few months of the Lok Sabha polls,” he said.

He alleged, “The BJP is doing now what the Congress had done during RJD supremo Lalu Prasad’s time. Both national parties have aligned with hugely unpopular regional leaders for small gains at the central level.” Kishor claimed that the Jan Suraaj campaign is committed to putting an end to this “revolving-door politics”.

(With agency inputs)