Pavan Varma questions Nitish Kumar over BJP-JD(U) alliance in Delhi amid outrage over CAA

In what appears to be a widening rift in the party, senior Janata Dal (United) leader Pavan K Varma on Tuesday wrote a letter to party chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar questioning him on its alliance with the BJP for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections amid "massive national outrage" against the amended Citizenship Act.

In the letter, Varma said that he fails to understand how the party was extending its alliance beyond Bihar at a time when the BJP has "embarked on a massive socially divisive agenda" aimed at "mutilating the peace, harmony and stability" of the country.

"I fail to understand how the JD(U) is now extending its alliance with the BJP beyond Bihar, when even long-standing allies of the BJP, like the Akali Dal, have refused to do so," he said.

Varma appealed to the JD(U) chief that "as you have emphasized" politics must be about principles and the courage of conviction.

"I think there is an urgent need for the JD(U) to harmonize what the party's constitution says, what the leader of the party feels in private, and what actions the party takes in public," the letter added.

He said that Nitish has maintained 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 said.

According to reports, the BJP will allot two seats to the JD(U) and one to the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) in Delhi Assembly polls.

Taking to Twitter, Varma questioned the alliance in Delhi "given Nitish's views on the BJP".

"This is the letter I have written to Nitish Kumar today asking him how the JD(U) has formed an alliance with the BJP for the Delhi elections, given his own views on the BJP, and the massive national outrage against the divisive CAA-NPR-NRC scheme," Varma tweeted sharing the letter.

So far, BJP has announced candidates for 67 seats in the run-up to elections for the 70-member Delhi Assembly.

( With inputs from ANI )