"JD(U) remains with Mahagathbandhan, INDIA bloc": KC Tyagi amid Nitish remark on dynastic politics

NEW DELHI: As a public statement by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, hitting out at dynastic politics without taking names, set the cat amongst the pigeons, ruling JD(U) leader KC Tyagi on Thursday affirmed that the party was still with the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) in the state and the Opposition bloc--INDIA. Earlier, in the day, the RJD claimed that his critique of dynastic politics was directed at the BJP and not at the ruling ally in the state.

Speaking to ANI on Thursday, Tyagi said, "JD(U) remains a part of the INDIA alliance." Meanwhile, amid the hectic political developments in Bihar, BJP national president JP Nadda cancelled his scheduled visit to Kerala.

He was scheduled to participate in a Pad Yatra at Kasaragod on January 27. Further, in an intriguing development, the BJP's Bihar chief Samrat Chaudhary and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi arrived in the national capital on Thursday for a meeting with the party top brass.

Earlier, on Wednesday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann announced that the ruling TMC and the AAP in these two states wouldn't ally with the Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The announcements came as a hammer blow to the INDIA partners to agree on a seat-sharing deal for the ensuing elections.

Before Rahul Gandhi-led ongoing Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is scheduled to reach West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo as well as Punjab CM Mann said there will be no alliance with the grand old party for the Lok Sabha elections, adding their parties would go it alone in polls. "I had no discussions with the Congress. I have always said that in Bengal, we will fight alone. I am not concerned about what will happen elsewhere in the country but we are a secular party.

In Bengal, we have what it takes to defeat the BJP," the TMC supremo said. In Chandigarh, Punjab CM Mann said the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will not go into an alliance with the Congress in the state, asserting that his party would win all 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state. "We will win all 13 Lok Sabha seats (from Punjab) in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections," Mann said at a media briefing on Wednesday.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has 79 seats while Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United has 45 seats in the 243-member Bihar Assembly. The BJP has 82 seats. Nitish can form the government with the support of the BJP if he were to return to the NDA. However, the ruling party affirmed that it was still with the RJD.