The decision of the Janata Dal (United) to extend support to the Aam Aadmi Party in the Delhi Assembly elections echoed during the Congress party’s four-day chintan-shivir in Patna on Tuesday.
AICC member and chief spokesman of State Congress Prem Chandra Mishra expressed unhappiness over Nitish Kumar campaigning for Arvind Kejriwal.
Mr. Mishra had earlier said that if Mr. Kumar went ahead with his decision, the Congress central leadership may be forced to review its decision of continuing its support to the JD(U) in Bihar.
Meanwhile, JD(U) national general secretary K.C. Tyagi had said that the party’s decision wasn’t final. “The Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have fielded candidates in Delhi and in such a condition, the JD(U) canvassing for the AAP could not do better... we have kept the decision to support the AAP on hold,” Mr. Tyagi said.
However, JD(U) president Basistha Narayan Singh told PTI that the party will go ahead and back the AAP in the Delhi Assembly polls. “The JD(U) will support the Aam Admi Party of Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi,” Mr. Singh said.
Brushing away the Congress’s unhappiness, Mr. Singh said that the JD(U) had ties with the party only in Bihar and outside the State they were free to chart a different course.
While describing JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar as a mature leader, Mr. Mishra hoped that he would display the high standard of his political stand and would not do anything which would hurt feelings of the Congress.
( With PTI inputs)
