NEW DELHI: Amid the recent political development in Bihar and reports of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar speaking to Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi, the grand old party feels that Janata Dal-United’s move to ditch the BJP will be good for the people of the state and if he decides to come back to the Grand Alliance then it will lead to major result in 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Speaking to The New Indian, Congress general secretary Tariq Anwar said, “The developments are good and we want that the people of Bihar to get rid of the BJP in the state.”
He said that Nitish of late has “realised” that the approach of the BJP is not good towards JD-U.
Citing example of conspiring against its alliance partner, the Congress leader said that in 2020 assembly polls in Bihar, the BJP used Chirag Paswan, who fielded his party candidates against JD-U in the state to damage his party.
To another question whether Congress would be comfortable if JD-U decides to come back to Grand Alliance, Anwar said, “Congress has always fought for ideology and will continue to do that. And we have always fought to thwart the politics of communalism and to weaken it across the country.”
He said, “If this starts from Bihar then it is the best thing and I feel that if Nitish decides to come out of the NDA then the BJP will suffer a big setback in the state.”
To another question whether it will change the course of politics in Bihar if JD-U decides to come back to Grand Alliance, Anwar replied, “It will make a lot of difference. What NDA got in 2019, (39 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats) the new alliance will be able to reverse the result.”
When asked if Nitish spoke to Sonia Gandhi, the Congress leader said, “I cannot confirm what the leaders spoke. But if Nitish decides to get the support of Congress then he needs to talk about it to Sonia Gandhi.”
According to Congress sources, Nitish dialed Sonia Gandhi on Sunday evening.
The recent political development comes after JD-U sent show cause notice to former Union minister RCP Singh on August 4. Following this, Singh resigned from the party.
The JD-U won the 2015 assembly elections in Bihar with Congress and RJD as alliance partners in Grand Alliance.
The JD-U quit the Grand Alliance in 2017 and joined the NDA. JD-U fought 2020 assembly elections with the NDA and managed to win only 43 seats out of 243 seats.
According to sources, Nitish is scheduled to visit Delhi on Friday. The Bihar Chief Minister skipped the Niti Aayog meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.
A Congress source also said that party in-charge Bhakta Charan Das and senior state unit leaders have been tasked to hold talks with the JD-U and the RJD.