Don't want to hurt Nitish, will decide course of action after reply to my letter: Pavan Varma

JDU national secretary Pavan Varma on Thursday said that he never wanted to hurt party supremo Nitish Kumar and added that he will decide his future course of action based on the reply to his letter by the Bihar Chief Minister.

"I welcome Nitish Kumar's statement that there is space for discussion within the party, as that is what I asked for. We need to have ideological clarity before we take a further decision, especially with regards to expanding alliance with BJP. It was never my intention to hurt him," Varma said.

"I want the party to have ideological clarity. For instance, we said no to NRC but we are supporting the CAA. BJP says CAA and NRC are hyphenated that NRC will follow CAA. BJP says NRC will be implemented across the country. Therefore, JDU should clarify its positions on many subjects," he said.

"I am awaiting a reply to my letter, will decide the future course of action after that. Once I get a reply or don't get it, I will decide my future course of action," the JDU leader said.

Earlier in the day, Nitish Kumar said that the leaders who are questioning JDU's stand could go wherever they want.

Varma had earlier written a letter to the Chief Minister questioning JDU's alliance with BJP in Delhi and raised concerns over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The JDU general secretary also said that he had met Nitish Kumar and told him that the party's support to the CAA was wrong but his advice was not taken into "cognizance".

"Before publicly speaking, I spoke to Nitish Kumar that the party support to CAA is wrong. When my advice was not taken into cognizance and the party supported the CAA in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, then I wrote a letter publicly," Varma said.