National executive meet: JD(U) to contest Assembly polls in four states alone

JD (U) national spokesperson K C Tyagi said, “The party wants to expand its base beyond Bihar. Though we will contest the 2020 Assembly election in Bihar under the NDA banner, we have decided to contest Assembly polls in Jharkhand, Delhi, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir alone.”

Tyagi said the party had been strengthening its organisational structure in some other states.

Asked about JD (U) national vice-president Prashant Kishor’s company agreeing to manage West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s campaign for the upcoming Assembly polls, Tyagi said, “Our national president and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has made it clear that the JD (U) has nothing to do with the company owned by Prashant Kishor. We would also like TMC to lose.”

Kishor, who also attended the national executive meet, was not asked to explain his recent meeting with the West Bengal Chief Minister.

Tyagi said there was no confusion over the NDA alliance in Bihar. “The NDA alliance is as strong as ever. Just because we are not part of Union cabinet does not mean that we are unhappy. Our objective is to get national status for the JD (U). We won seven out of 15 Assembly seats we contested in Arunachal Pradesh with 10 per cent vote share.”

On a question on Article 370, Tyagi said, “If there is any attempt to repeal Article 370, we will oppose it from within NDA.”