JD(U) leader baffled over party's call to ally with BJP for Delhi polls

Taking strong exceptions to Janata Dal (United) joining hands with the BJP for the forthcoming Delhi assembly polls, senior JD(U) leader Pavan Varma has shot of a letter to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar calling on him to provide “ideological clarity,” NDTV reported on Tuesday (January 21).

Emphasising that he is “deeply perplexed” over the tie up, that too at a time when there is so much outpouring of anger over the CAA-NPR-NRC row, the senior leader has said, “On more than one occasion, you have expressed your grave apprehensions about the BJP-RSS combine.”

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Pointing to the Akali Dal, which has parted ways with the BJP, for the Delhi elections, over the citizenship law, Verma has written, “If these are your real views, I fail to understand how the JD(U) is now extending its alliance with the BJP beyond Bihar, when even long standing allies of the BJP, like the Akali Dal, have refused to do so.”

Referring to his first meeting with the Bihar chief minister even before resigning from the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) during the course of which Nitish Kumar spoke about Modi’s views and the manner in which the saffron party humiliated him, Varma has said, “you had spoken to me at length and with conviction on why Narendra Modi and his policies are inimical for the country.”

Alluding to Kumar’s call for an “RSS-mukt bharat (RSS-free India),” Varma has said, “The cause for confusion arises from the fact that even after you changed tracks and aligned again with the BJP in 2017, your private apprehensions regarding the BJP did not change.”

Also read: The unthinkable is possible in Bihar – a BJD-RJD tie-up