Published 11:14 IST, January 30th 2020
RJD mocks Nitish on expulsion of Kishor & Pavan Varma, makes claim on who's calling shots
In its first official reaction to the expulsion of Prashant Kishor and Pavan Varma from the JDU, RJD contended that the JDU had become the B-team of BJP.
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In its first official reaction to the expulsion of Prashant Kishor and Pavan Varma from the JDU, RJD on Thursday contended that the JDU had become the B-team of BJP. RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari claimed that former BJP president Amit Shah had a veto on who would remain and be thrown out of the JDU. Asserting that the countdown of JDU had commenced, he predicted that the party would be merged with BJP ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections.
RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari remarked, “We have no interest in this. But it is clear that Amit Shah decides that who will remain and who will be thrown out of JDU. See what is going to happen next. BJP is taking revenge as Narendra Modi and Amit Shah hold a grudge against the JDU. It has been proven that JDU is the B-team of RJD. The countdown of JDU has begun. Till the time the elections come, JDU will be merged with BJP.”
Disclosure by Pavan Varma
On Wednesday, JDU sacked Kishor and Varma, considered as the close aides of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. Both these leaders had repeatedly spoken against the party line on crucial issues such as the Citizenship Amendment Act. Recently, Kumar broke his silence on this open rift by declaring that they had to maintain party discipline barring for which they were free to join any other party. While Kishor refused to explicitly address the question of his expulsion, Varma made some sensational disclosures on Republic TV. According to Varma, the Bihar CM was seriously contemplating merging the JDU with a party opposed to BJP at one point in time.
Pavan Varma claimed, "Even after he joined BJP in 2017, he and I - perhaps Ajay was not a part of these discussions - we had long discussions about where the BJP is going and where our stand should be. In fact, at that time I can share with you that at one point, Nitish was very seriously pursuing the possibility of JDU breaking with BJP and merging with another party opposed to BJP. But I don't need to elaborate on that."
11:14 IST, January 30th 2020