NEW DELHI, 24 August 2004 — Former Union minister and senior Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar has hinted that he will severe his party’s long-time ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party if the BJP roots for a Hindu nationalist agenda.
He said that his party’s tie-up with the BJP was “not like a sacred thread”.
“If the BJP continues to show its inclination toward Hinduvta and takes up other controversial issues, the JD(U) might come out of the National Democratic Alliance,” a newspaper quoted him as saying.
Only last week, Nitish, who virtually controls the party, had denied speculation that the party was breaking its alliance with the BJP in Bihar ahead of assembly elections.
Nitish’s reported comment is being linked to Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s efforts to form a strong alternative to take on Railway Minister Laloo Prasad’s ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal in forthcoming Bihar Assembly elections.
Nitish had earlier denied that his party was going to ally itself with Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party.
Meanwhile, JD(U) President George Fernandes has criticized Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s gesture of greeting Priyanka Gandhi’s son Rehaan with folded hands. It reflects the increasing dominance of Gandhi dynasty on the Congress, he said.
“The process of establishing a dynasty was started by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru who promoted his daughter Indira.
“Now, I don’t know what generation of the dynasty is there, but things have come to such a pass that the prime minister greets a two-year-old with folded hands,” Fernandes said at a function here in memory of Swami Sahajananda Saraswati.
Manmohan had greeted Rehaan when he had come with his parents to a prayer meeting at former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s funeral site on his 60th birth anniversary on Friday.
The former defense minister said this action should not be “laughed away.”
“We have to take this seriously as it shows how the Gandhi dynasty has come to completely dominate the Congress,” he said.
