Patna: In a major blow to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal-United (JDU), the party's unit of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu on Sunday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi in the presence of party chief JP Nadda and the National General Secretary BL Santhosh.
According to sources, 16 members of the JD (U) unit joined the BJP, including the former state president of JD (U). The development comes after the JD (U) formed an alliance with RJD and others to form the 'Mahagathbandhan' (Grand Alliance) government in Bihar. "Members of JD (U) of Daman and Diu and the entire unit of state JD (U) joined the BJP against Nitish Kumar's decision to leave the BJP, which had given impetus to development in Bihar and to choose the 'Bahubali', corrupt and a dynastic party," BJP said in a tweet earlier last week.
Nitish Kumar is meeting the leaders of various parties across the country these days to create an atmosphere against the BJP for the 2024 general elections. However, Kumar denied speculation on his Prime Ministerial candidature, saying that "I am not even a claimant, I don't even desire it." Earlier in the first week of September, five out of six Janata Dal (United) MLAs in Manipur had also joined the BJP.
Also read: Daman and Diu: Blow to Nitish Kumar as 15 JD(U) panchayat members join BJP
After Manipur JD (U) MLAs joined BJP, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Modi took a dig at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, saying that states like Manipur and Arunachal have become JD (U)-free. JD(U) MLAs, who joined the BJP in Manipur include KH Joykishan, N Sanate, Mohammad Achhabuddin, former Director General of Police AM Khoute and Thangjam Arun Kumar.
Notably, a few days ago, the majority of JD (U) MLAs in Arunachal Pradesh joined the saffron party and very recently five out of seven MLAs from Manipur embraced the BJP. On August 25, 2022, the lone JD (U) MLA from Arunachal Pradesh joined the saffron party in the presence of national president JP Nadda and Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu.
BJP stands at 49 out of 60 Assembly seats (MLA) with the joining of lone JD (U) MLA Techi Kaso with BJP. Out of nine corporators of JD (U), eight joined BJP; now the total number of BJP corporators is 18 out of 20. Furthermore, 17 out of 18 Zilla Parishad Members (ZPM) of JD (U) joined BJP.
In addition, out of 119 Gram Panchayat Members (GPM) of JD (U), more than 100 joined BJP and with this BJP GPM are around 6,530 out of 8,332 GPM. Notably, in the first week of August, Nitish Kumar's party severed its ties with the BJP in Bihar and walked out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) alliance.
