On the day Nitish Kumar was sworn in as Bihar Chief Minister after receiving support from the BJP, the Kerala unit of his party JD(U) decided not to support him and threatened to break away from the parent outfit.
Speaking to the media in New Delhi, JD(U) Kerala state President MP Veerendra Kumar, who is a Rajya Sabha MP said that he called upon JD(U) MPs and senior leader Sharad Yadav to protest against Nitish Kumar’s decision.
“Whatever the price, we’re ready to pay. We are not accepting the JD(U) joining the NDA and our relations with Kumar has ended. It’s shocking that Nitish Kumar has joined the NDA. We all thought that he will fight the fascist tendencies but he has now become a part of it,” Veerendra Kumar said.
State Secretary Varghese George also condemned the alliance between the JD(U) and the BJP in Bihar, stating that the Kerala unit would remain with the parent party only if its MPs protest against the political developments in Bihar. If not, he warned that the Kerala unit of JD(U) would sever ties.
However, party sources said that they would take decision soon after Veerendra Kumar returns from Delhi.
The Kerala unit of JD (U) had not backed NDA’s presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind.
In dramatic and fast-paced developments in Bihar, Nitish Kumar on Wednesday evening resigned as Chief Minister dumping the RJD and Congress to stitch a new alliance with BJP, which quickly announced support to a new government under him and said it will join it too.
Nitish Kumar ended a 20-month-long Grand Alliance coalition that defeated the BJP in 2015 and gave in his resignation claiming he can't work in the "current circumstances" following corruption charges against Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav -- son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad.
He then went on to be sworn in as CM on Thursday for the sixth time, while BJP’s Sushil Modi was sworn in as Deputy CM.
Sharad Yadav has been tight lipped since his resignation and was not present at oath taking ceremony.
Meanwhile CPI (M) Kerala state secretary Kodiyari Balakrishnan has invited JD (U) Kerala unit to join LDF, after leaving the Congress-led UDF.