Bihar CM Nitish Kumar chairs JD(U) meeting, discusses Jharkhand polls

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) on Saturday said that it wanted to contest the assembly elections in neighbouring Jharkhand in alliance with the BJP.

Kumar chaired a meeting of his party at his official residence and it was attended by JD(U) working president Sanjay Kumar Jha, who is in charge of Jharkhand, Bihar minister Ashok Choudhary and Rajya Sabha MP Khiru Mahto, who heads the JD(U)'s unit in the adjoining state, among others.

After the meeting, Mahto told reporters, "We are looking forward to contesting the Jharkhand assembly polls in alliance with the BJP."

"Among the issues discussed with the party's supreme leader was the inclusion of Kurmis in the list of Scheduled Tribes. Kurmi leaders in Jharkhand have been raising the demand for some time and today it was seconded by delegates from West Bengal. We will now move forward by raising the issue in Parliament and before President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah," he added.

Assembly polls in Jharkhand, which was carved out of Bihar two and a half decades ago, are due at the end of this year.

The state is currently ruled by the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance, which ousted the NDA from power in the 2019 elections.

Senior JD(U) leader and minister Shravan Kumar said, "The party intends to contest Jharkhand assembly polls as part of NDA. Details like seat-sharing formula will be decided at a later stage."

"The meeting was called in view of requests from Kurmi and Kushwaha leaders of Jharkhand who had been seeking an audience with our CM," he said.

He also made light of opposition parties in Bihar questioning the CM's absence at the NITI Aayog meeting in Delhi.

"The opposition keeps raising questions. But things are moving in the right direction and will continue to do so with good speed," said the minister.