Nitish calls for Bihar-like grand alliance in 2019 Lok Sabha polls to defeat BJP

Nitish Kumar added that there were no dearth of leaders or faces for the post of Prime Minister. AFP PHOTO / SAJJAD HUSSAIN

PATNA: A "Mahagathbandhan" (Grand Alliance) of non-BJP parties is needed at the national level to defeat the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Monday. He stressed on a grand alliance of opposition parties at the national level to stop the surge of the BJP and urged the Congress and Left parties to take initiative for this. "The BJP's victory in Uttar Pradesh was mainly because of lack of a Bihar-like 'mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) there ... If you add the vote percentage of the Samajwadi Party, the Congress and the BSP, it is 10 per cent more than the votes polled by the BJP," he told mediapersons here. Kumar, who is also the JD(U) national president, said, "A Bihar-like grand alliance is the solution to check the surge of the BJP and for this, the Congress and the Left parties should take the initiative." "A 'mahagathbandhan' like this at the national level will be 'maha safal' (a grand success)," he claimed. It's Congress' responsibility to take the initiative Kumar, the architect of the Bihar grand alliance comprising the JD(U), the RJD and the Congress, said, "Being a bigger party, it is the Congress' responsibility to take the initiative of bringing all major non-BJP parties on one platform." "I had talks with some Left leaders in this connection and I wish they take an initiative to this effect to throw the BJP-led NDA out of power in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls," he said after his weekly 'Lok Samvad' (public interaction) programme. BJP unnecessarily junilating on outcome of recently held Assembly elections in 5 states Reacting on the outcome of elections in the five states recently, the Bihar Chief Minister said the BJP was "unnecessarily" jubilating on the outcome of the polls as the results were mixed. "The Congress emerged victorious in Punjab and as the single largest party in two places (Goa and Manipur). So it is wrong to read that the results are tilted towards the BJP. They (BJP) managed to form government in Goa and Manipur by 'jor-tor' (cobbling numbers)," he said. JDU contesting MCD election shouldn't be seen as lack of unity among opposition On the JD(U), the RJD, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party contesting the Delhi civic polls, slated to be held on April 23, separately, Kumar said it is a local body election in which every party has the right to field its candidates. "MCD (Municipal Corporations of Delhi) elections should not be seen as lack of unity among opposition parties," he said. EVM row is an old debate About doubts expressed about EVM machines by the BSP and the RJD, Kumar said it is an old debate and the Election Commission should solve it. Grand alliance in Bihar led to BJP's debacle in the state In 2015, the JD(U) joined hands with Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD and the Congress to form a Grand Alliance which led to the crowning of Nitish as Bihar Chief Minister for a third consecutive term and had on mat the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. JD (U) leader KC Tyagi had earlier said it would be difficult to defeat Modi in 2019 unless a Bihar-like alliance was formed at the national level.