PATNA, Jan 21: Disgruntled JD(U) leader Pavan Varma on Tuesday demanded a “full statement” from Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on the partys stand on Citizenship (Amendment) Act and National Population Register, hours after having caused a flutter with a letter addressed to the party chief questioning the tie-up with the BJP in Delhi.
Talking to reporters at the airport here, Varma who was in town to take part in a seminar, reiterated the need for “vaicharik spashtikaran” (ideological clarity) in the wake of the “country-wide movement against the citizenship law”.
“Nitish Kumar has said that NRC will not be implemented in Bihar while on NPR and CAA he has acknowledged the need for further discussions. But even on these issues, I say that he comes out with a full statement, the career diplomat turned politician, who has ruffled many feathers by sharing screenshots of his two-page letter on social media, said.
“There is a need for ideological clarity as to whether, in the light of our partys constitution, we stand with the BJP which has its own ideology and priorities.. In the light of the country-wide protests, even an old BJP ally like the Akali Dal has shied away from an alliance with it in Delhi assembly polls on this issue.
“It must, therefore, be known what impelled the JD(U) to take such a step, Varma added.
In the letter, Varma, JD(U) national General Secretary, had questioned Kumar for aligning with the BJP outside Bihar in Delhi despite having expressed apprehensions “in private” about the BJP-RSS leading the nation into a “dangerous space”.
“On more than one occasion, you have expressed your apprehensions about the BJP-RSS combine.
“In my first meeting with you in Patna in August 2012, even before I had resigned from the IFS, you had spoken to me at length and with conviction on why Narendra Modi and his policies are inimical for the country,” Varma, one of the most articulate spokespersons of a political party, said.
In comments that may embarrass Kumar, Varma claimed that the JD(U) leader, even after joining hands with the BJP again in 2017, had confessed to him how the current saffron party leadership had “humiliated” him.
“You mentioned on more than one occasion that the BJP was leading India into a dangerous space. It was your personal view, as conveyed to me, that the BJP is destroying institutions and that there is a need for democratic and socialist forces within the country to regroup, a task for which you actually assigned a senior party official,” Varma added, without disclosing who the JD(U) leader was.
Earlier, responding to queries about Varmas letter at the JD(U)s state headquarters here, party spokesman Rajiv Ranjan Prasad termed as a “positive development” the tie-up with BJP in Delhi, which was agreed upon by “top leaders of both parties”.
This has left “no scope for unnecessary controversy though people may have their personal opinions”, he added.
Bihar BJP spokesman Nikhil Anand also came out with an angry tweet addressed to Varma, saying “you should not have made the letter public and rather discussed it in party forum.
“In a way,you are questioning top leadership of the party, besides violating its hierarchy and discipline and going against the collective essence and ethos of NDA,” he said.
Anand also hailed the seat-sharing formula for NDA as part of which JD(U) would contest two seats and Ram Vilas Paswans one, leaving the remaining 67 for the BJP as an example of “rapport among top leaders of the NDA”.
Varma expressed disgust over suggestions that his dissatisfaction stemmed from not being reconsidered for the Rajya Sabha of which he was a member between 2014 and 2016.
“It is a petty thing to say. I have never asked Nitish Kumar for a Rajya Sabha berth. If a party is in the business of politics, it ought to have some ideological congruity. Why do people making such allegations not talk on issues, ideology and the partys stance”, he asked.
Varma also scoffed at suggestions that he was sore over his name not figuring in the list of JD(U)s star campaigners for Delhi wherein another notable omission was Prashant Kishor
A strident critic of CAA-NPR-NRC whose company provides parties with professional assistance during polls and has Arvind Kejriwals Aam Aadmi Party as one of its clients.
“When I am not in support of the partys tie-up with the BJP in Delhi and questioning why the alliance has been extended outside Bihar in such a delicate time, where does the question of my becoming a star campaigner arise”, he asked.
He also rejected as “completely baseless” speculations that he was planning to join the Congress, saying “had I intended to do so, I would have done so long back and openly, not clandestinely.
“Please understand that I have raised issues which are very important. JD(U) is a responsible political party and not a plaything. It needs to come clean on these issues,”he said.
Replying to a query, he said “if the party thinks that my letter, which has stemmed from my concern for the JD(U), warrants any type of action against me, the leadership is free to do so”.
About his next course of action in the event of JD(U) leadership not responding to his concerns satisfactorily, Varma who resigned from Indian Foreign Service in 2013 and started off as culture adviser to the Chief Minister with a cabinet rank quipped “in such a scenario I will be facing you people again, to disclose my future plans”.(PTI)
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