JDU leader Nitish Kumar lashes out at Pavan Varma after BJP alliance row

Two days after JDU leader Pavan Varma wrote an open letter to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar regarding his stance on the CAA and alliance with the BJP. the JDU chief said Varma is free to leave the party and join any other party.

Speaking on Pavan Varma's letter in which he spoke of Nitish Kumar's apprehensions on CAA and NRC that he "expressed in private", the Bihar CM said, "If anyone has any issues then the person can discuss it within party or at party meetings, but such kind of public statements are surprising. He can go and join any party he likes, he has my best wishes."

JDU leader Pavan Varma on Tuesday demanded that party president Nitish Kumar clarify his move to align with the BJP in the Delhi elections. He was referring to the Bihar CM's "private apprehensions" on how BJP is leading the country.

Pavan Varma wrote: "I remember your confessing to me in private how the current leadership in the BJP party has humiliated you. You maintained, on more than one occasion, that the BJP is leading India into a 'dangerous space. It was your personal view, as conveyed to me, that the BJP is destroying institutions, and that there is a need for democratic and socialist forces within the country to regroup, a task for which you actually assigned a senior party official."

Varma said, the JD(U)'s decision to join hands with the BJP for the Delhi polls left him "deeply perplexed."