JDU, Left hail Nitish for breaking away with BJP

Patna: The JD(U) on Tuesday hailed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, its de facto leader, for assuming the “leadership of a new coalition”, while the Left iterated its support for him in a coalition sans BJP.

JD(U) parliamentary board president Upendra Kushwaha wrote a post to this effect on Twitter, ahead of Kumar’s meeting with Governor Fagu Chauhan later in the day.

“Congratulations to Nitish Kumar ji for assuming leadership of a new coalition, in a new form”, tweeted Kushwaha referring to the opposition Grand Alliance’s support for the JD(U) leader.

“March ahead Nitish ji. The country is waiting for you”, Kushwaha added cryptically.

Meanwhile, the CPI(ML), a major alliance partner of the Grand Alliance, also praised Kumar for snapping ties with the BJP.

“Nitish Kumar deserves to be commended for breaking away from the BJP. We will support him as Chief Minister when he stakes claim to form a new government, the Left party’s secretary general Dipankar told PTI-Bhasha over the phone. The Communist leader had on Monday too promised “help” if JD(U) broke with the saffron party.

Dipankar, whose party has 12 MLAs in the assembly which has an effective strength of 242, however, added “we are a mass movement oriented party, not keen on joining any government. But right now we are keeping a close watch on the CM’s meeting with the Governor”.

CPI(M) state secretary Awadhesh Kumar, whose party is also a Grand Alliance partner with two MLAs, also posted a one-line message, praising the JD(U) leader, on his Facebook page.