PATNA: Describing itself as a strongly anti-BJP party, Bihar’s ruling JD(U) on Friday said no party has the capability to beat BJP singlehandedly in Uttar Pradesh. JD(U) secretary general KC Tyagi said UP has lately become more communally polarised than Bihar.
Apparently hurt by Samajwadi Party’s decision not to have any alliance with any party for the upcoming Assembly polls in UP, Tyagi said the move could lead to BJP securing an easy victory in the northern state. The senior JD(U) leader, considered a close aide of party stalwart and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, dubbed SP’s decision as a “mistake” like that of Congress in Assam.
“The lead BJP has in UP today is very dangerous. UP has been religiously polarised more than Bihar lately. No single party is in a position today to defeat BJP in UP on its own,” said Tyagi, a member of Rajya Sabha.
“In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, BJP’s vote share in UP was 42.63 per cent while that of SP and BSP together was 42.12 per cent. Nitish Kumar’s proposal of an anti-BJP coalition for an RSS-free India had both SP and BSP together in it. If they cannot come together, then one of the two parties should at least take the initiative to bring together like-minded parties,” added Tyagi.
He said the “divisive politics” being practiced by BJP in UP in recent months has turned the state more polarised along religious lines than Bihar.
“JD(U) is the pioneer of the anti-BJP movement. By defeating BJP in Bihar by a coalition of like-minded parties, our party and its president (Nitish Kumar) had shown the country the way forward. BJP won in Assam as there was no (anti-BJP) coalition there. The kind of mistake Congress committed in Assam is being replicated in UP by our friends (SP and BSP),” said Tyagi.
JD(U), he said, would not make any effort now to bring SP and BSP together in a grand alliance in UP. “Our party’s ideology and strategy are directed against those of BJP. Our party will stick to this line. That is our religion,” he added.