Uttar Pradesh Elections 2017: Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) said they will not contest UP elections
Nitish Kumar's party Janata Dal United or JD(U) has decided not to contest the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections so as to "consolidate and strengthen secular forces" and ensure that "communal forces" are defeated. JD(U) national General Secretary KC Tyagi told reporters in Patna that the decision to pull out of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections was taken at the party's core committee meeting yesterday.
"The decision has been taken to defeat the communal forces and also to ensure no further division in secular votes takes place," Mr Tyagi said. He also expressed disappointment that a comprehensive alliance on the lines of grand-alliance in Bihar, where all "secular forces" joined hands to defeat the BJP, could not be formed. Samajwadi Party and Congress have, however, formed a pre-poll alliance in UP.
"We are disappointed, surprised and hurt that both SP and Congress failed to form a grand alliance on the lines of Bihar that proved to be a milestone in nation's politics. Bihar's grand alliance was formed by the efforts of both Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad who buried their differences for a bigger objective," Mr Tyagi said.
"If we have to win the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, then it is necessary that BJP must be defeated in UP polls," he said.
Mr Tyagi also said, that had Ajit Singh's party Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and JD(U) been accommodated in the grand alliance, it would have won 300 seats in the UP assembly.
He was accompanied by Water Resources Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, party National General Secretaries RCP Singh, Shyam Rajak, Sanjay Jha and others.
Asked if Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is also JD(U)'s national president, would go to Uttar Pradesh if invited by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for campaigning, Ranjan Singh said "he (Nitish Kumar) would not go to UP for campaigning".
"We don't have much stake in UP, so we will pray from here (sitting in Patna) for them to win," Mr Singh said.
Mr Tyagi further expressed his disappointment that hard work put in by party workers in preparing grounds for UP assembly polls in five divisions where Nitish Kumar addressed some public meetings could not fructify.