Pavan Varma questions JDU chief Nitish Kumar over alliance with BJP

Janata Dal (United) Party's rifts are evident now, as party leader Pavan Varma wrote an open a letter to party chief Nitish Kumar over the tie-up with BJP in Delhi ahead of the elections. Varma said public actions need to match with personal views and that there is no room for double standards.

"You can't have personal views which don't match with your public actions. Double standards are not good. I am not the only person disagreeing with Nitish Kumar. Our party vice president and National General Secretary have also shown their opposition several times and asked him to reconsider his decision. One MLA even quit the party due to Nitish Kumar's allegiance to the BJP in these troubled times," Pavan Varma said.

Elaborating further on the JDU chief's views on CAA, Varma said, "Nitish Kumar has categorically come out against NRC but hasn't said anything on the NPR, whose dates have been announced by Deputy CM Sushil Modi. Now when CAA came, he said we will discuss, but he hasn't come out categorically against the CAA-NRC combination. He once said how BJP is taking the country to dangerous times. When the time came, he went ahead and forged an alliance with the BJP. What kind of double standard is this? Even long-standing alliances like Akali Dal have parted ways with the BJP," JD(U) leader Pavan Varma said.

Pavan Varma also said that as a party leader, he deserves an explanation on JDU's stance.

"Now as far as his personal views are concerned and in the view of the fact that there's national outrage against the CAA and in view of our party constitution, how did he take a decision to extend his alliance with the BJP in Delhi elections. I have sought an explanation on this as a party member. I told Nitish Kumar that in our party constitution, the word secular comes three times. He needs to respect that and especially at a time when the entire country is against the CAA. If the party doesn't stand by the principles of its own party, our position within the party becomes untenable."

Varma also added that his attempt was at getting the party chief back on track without resigning from the party, "As long as Prashant Kishor and I are in the party, our attempt will be to get Nitish Kumar on the right path, even then if he doesn't listen, all options are open," he said.