JD(U) to fight all upcoming Assembly polls alone; Nitish Kumar-led party decides not to be part of NDA amid simmering tension with BJP

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal-United has decided that it will not be part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) outside Bihar. Reportedly, the JD(U) will fight the upcoming Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Haryana, and Delhi alone. The decision was taken in the party’s national executive meet on Sunday, ANI reported. [caption id=“attachment_4748521” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of JD(U) chief and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and BJP chief Amit Shah. PTI[/caption] The JD(U)’s decision on Sunday comes amid strained ties between the alliance members after the NDA saw a landslide victory in the Lok Sabha election. The parties have engaged in a veiled back-and-forth over ministerial berths in the Union and Bihar state cabinets. While the JD(U) declined a single ministerial position in the NDA-II government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi due to “disproportionate representation” of allies in the new Cabinet, the BJP unit in the state also turned down an offer of one position that the JD(U) offered to it as part of the expansion of the state’s cabinet. Last Sunday, Nitish expanded his cabinet with the induction of eight new faces — all from the JD(U) . Members of allies, the BJP and LJP, were left out of the expansion. Nitish said that the BJP had been offered a berth in his cabinet, but the saffron party was not too keen. Seconding Kumar, Bihar deputy chief minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said the party was offered a ministerial berth, but had opted out of it for now. Nitish, soon after the new Union ministers were announced, sought to put speculations of a tiff between the alliance members to rest saying that there was “no unease” between them. With inputs from agencies