It was JD-U's decision not to contest bypolls in Bihar: Nitish

JD-U president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said that the decision of his party not to contest by-elections to one Lok Sabha and two Assembly seats was taken by the state unit of the party and not him.

"It was a decision of the state unit of the JD-U, not mine," Nitish Kumar told media here in a reply to speculation over the decision of the ruling JD-U not to field candidates in any of the three seats where bypolls will take place in March.

Nitish Kumar said he has given his consent to the party state unit's decision not to contest the bypolls to Araria Lok Sabha and the Jahanabad and Bhabhua Assembly seats.

After the JD-U decided not to contest the bypolls, Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav taunted the Chief Minister saying: "It shows Nitish Kumar's abject surrender before the BJP which will not allow him to call the shots. What an irony. The ruling party is running away from a contest."

Two days ago JD-U state president Vashisht Narain Singh announced that the party will not field any candidate for any of the three seats in the bypolls.

The bypoll in Araria Lok Sabha seat was necessitated by the death of RJD MP Mohammad Taslimuddin. The BJP had finished second in the seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, closely followed by the JD-U, which had then contested the Parliamentary polls separately.

The Jahanabad assembly seat has fallen vacant after the death of RJD Legislator Mundrika Yadav. The JD-U had fought the 2015 Assembly polls in alliance with the RJD and the Congress.

The bypolls in Bhabhua in Kaimur district has been necessitated following the death of the BJP legislator.

--IANS

ik/nks/rn