'No compromise on communal harmony': Nitish Kumar’s message to BJP at key NDA meet in Bihar

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. (File Photo: PTI)

Alliance partners under the banner of the National Democratic Alliance in Bihar will contest the Assembly elections due next year under the leadership of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. A resolution to this effect was passed at a meeting of NDA partners, the first since Nitish broke away from the Grand Alliance and returned to the NDA fold, held in Patna on Monday.

At the meeting held in the presence of senior leaders of the Janata Dal (United), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Nitish also sought to underline his secular credentials and asserted that there would be no compromise on communal harmony irrespective of whether the Muslims vote for the NDA or not.

Almost all NDA Lok Sabha MPs, MLAs and MLCs, all district presidents of the JD(U) and BJP, and 25 leaders each from the Rashtriya Lok Morcha, LJP(R) and HAM(S) attended the NDA meeting, held at the CM’s residence.

The comments, made in the presence of Union minister Giriraj Singh, assume significance in view of the BJP leader's recent 'Hindu Swabhiman Yatra' in the Muslim-dominated Seemanchal districts of Kishanganj, Purnea, Katihar and Araria. The Yatra was seen as a display of power by the senior BJP leader who carried on with the Yatra despite Nitish Kumar's reservations.

While the meeting came ahead of the November 13 by-elections to four Assembly seats in Bihar, a JD(U) source said the idea behind it was also to drop a hint to ally BJP "to stick to the old NDA template of zero tolerance on crime and and not attempt to foment any communal discord", reported The Indian Express.

"The NDA meeting was necessary to set the record straight. Nitish alone is the NDA leader and there must be no ambiguity on our commitment to communal harmony," the report cited a JD(U) leader as saying.

The meeting was also the first after the Lok Sabha elections where the NDA emerged ahead of the Mahagathbandhan of the RJD, Congress and Left parties but saw its tally drop to 30 of 40 Lok Sabha seats as compared to 39 in 2019. The meeting also came in the backdrop of the emergence of Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraj party as a potent force to reckon with in Bihar.

While the issue of Prashant Kishor, once seen as a key aide of CM Nitish, was not discussed, NDA leaders did underline the importance of better coordination down to the panchayat level ahead of the Assembly elections a year from now.

It was decided that the district-level 20-point – or NDA “Bees Sutri” – committees will now hold monthly reviews of development works and public grievances instead of the irregular meetings it holds currently.

The committee has 10 members each from the BJP and JD(U) and one each from the Rashtriya Lok Morcha of Upendra Kushwaha, LJP (R) of Chirag Paswan and HAM (S) of Jitan Ram Manjhi, apart from the minister in charge of that district.