Nitish Kumar surprised at BJP denying Saryu Rai ticket

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is surprised at the omission of BJP stalwart Saryu Rai from the list of candidates fielded by BJP for Jharkhand assembly elections. After JDU MP Lalan Singh lauded Saryu Rai's crusade against alleged corruption of Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das, there was speculation over the past one week that Nitish Kumar would campaign for Saryu Rai,  especially after the JDU withdrew its candidate from the Jamshedpur East constituency from where Rai is contesting as an independent candidate against Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das.

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'We made several offers to Saryu Rai'

Nitish Kumar while talking to reporters in his Bihar Vidhan Sabha chamber said, "He is not going to campaign for his own party candidates in Jharkhand, then where is the question for campaigning for Saryu Rai?" But Nitish has fond memories of Saryu Rai when they both studied together in prestigious Science College, Patna and described him as an old friend. Nitish Kumar further said, "We made several offers to Saryu Rai to come back to Bihar politics but he never showed any interest to return back." Saryu Rai's friendship with Nitish Kumar is well known. Even when BJP and JDU had parted ways in 2017, Rai got his book released by Nitish Kumar, much to the dislike of Bihar BJP leaders.

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'The alliance has not been affected'

On many occasions, Bihar BJP leaders had criticized Saryu Rai for praising Nitish Kumar when BJP and JDU were at loggerheads. BJP leader and Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Modi in a tweet said," In the interest of Bihar, both BJP and JDU are united. Both the parties have contesting separately in other states and our alliance is limited to Bihar. After having divergent views on Article 370 and Ram temple, the alliance has not been affected. In future also we shall resolve all issues ".JDU is contesting on 80 seats in Jharkhand and has withdrawn its candidate from Jamshedpur East assembly constituency from where Saryu Rai is contesting as an independent candidate against Jharkhand CM. This goes on to suggest that even though Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has decided not to campaign in Jharkhand assembly elections, he has provided tacit support to Rai. 

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Old-time BJP leader

Rai also has the internal support of JMM  and AJSU which parted ways with the BJP. Since Rai has been an old-time BJP leader, since RSS days, many BJP workers and leaders are also supporting him secretly. Raghubar Das who has been a 5 term MLA from Jamshedpur is locked in a tough battle this time as Saryu Rai has alleged corruption charges on the Jharkhand CM and has called him "Raghubar Daag".

Read: JDU Supports BJP-rebel Saryu Rai's Candidature Against CM Raghubar Das In Jharkhand