JD-U not to be part of NDA outside Bihar

The Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) on Sunday announced that it will not be a part of the BJP-led NDA outside Bihar and will contest the upcoming assembly polls in four states on its own.

The decision has been taken in order to expand the presence of the JD(U) and to attain the status of a national recognised party by 2020, party's chief general secretary K C Tyagi said.

He was speaking to reporters here after the JD(U)'s national executive meeting, which was chaired by Kumar.

"The JD(U) is not a part of the NDA outside Bihar. We will fight (the upcoming) assembly elections in four states on our own strength," said Tyagi, flanked by party general secretaries Pavan Verma and Sanjay Jha.

"We want to make the JD(U) a national party. The JD(U) is a recognised party in Bihar and Arunachal Pradesh," he said.

"We will fight elections in four states of Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir with all our strength and might. And it will be our endeavour to achieve the status of a national party by 2020," he added.

The JD(U), however, is very much a part of the National Democratic Alliance at the Centre and will contest the Bihar Assembly elections in 2020 under the NDA banner, Tyagi said.

The national executive meeting of the JD(U) was attended by several senior party leaders, including vice president Prashant Kishor, Ram Chandra Prasad Singh and Bihar unit chief Bashishtha Narayan Singh.