'Taal mel' (coordination) within the NDA is not up to the mark, said Upendra Kushwaha. (FILE)
A key political aide of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday blamed "lack of coordination among NDA partners" for the recent defeat of the BJP in a crucial by-election in the state.
JD(U) parliamentary board president Upendra Kushwaha said a "coordination committee" was needed to iron out things in the NDA in Bihar to avert debacles like the by-poll in Bochahan assembly seat, where the BJP candidate was defeated by the RJD nominee by over 36,000 votes.
"There is no point in denying that the 'taal mel' (coordination) within the NDA is not up to the mark. This might be a factor that went against us in Bochahan. The BJP's central leadership should intervene and consider the JD(U)'s long standing demand for a coordination committee in Bihar," said Mr Kushwaha.
The statement assumes significance in the wake of the fact that the JD(U) is now the largest alliance partner of the BJP at the national level. The NDA has lost many important allies in the past few years, including Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, Akali Dal in Punjab and Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh.
The by-election to the reserved seat was necessitated by the death of MLA Musafir Paswan, who had been elected in the 2020 assembly elections on the ticket of Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), founded by Bollywood set designer turned politician Mukesh Sahani.
Mr Sahani had been brought into the NDA at the behest of the BJP which also pushed for his induction into the Nitish Kumar cabinet despite him having lost his own assembly seat.
The Nishad leader, who uses the nickname "Son of Mallah", also got elected to the legislative council from a BJP quota seat, but ran afoul of the party during the recent assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh where he launched a vitriolic campaign against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The BJP struck back, weaning away all three MLAs of the VIP and getting Sahani sacked as minister by making a written request to Nitish Kumar.
This seemed to have not gone down well with Nishad voters. Moreover, the BJP's strategy to not consider Musafir Paswan's son Amar, who has won the seat on an RJD ticket, has also been called into question by alliance partners like former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi, who heads Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM).
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)