New Delhi, Sept. 24: The Janata Dal (United) today termed "customary" the appointment of Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav by the Modi regime on a panel to commemorate the birth centenary of BJP ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya and said nothing "political should be read into it".
"It is customary to participate in the birth celebrations of political leaders. We don't believe in political untouchability," JDU spokesperson K.C. Tyagi said.
The Centre on Friday constituted a 149-member national panel, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to commemorate the birth centenary. It included Nitish and Sharad as prominent members from the non-BJP segment. Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar is also on the panel. No Congress leader is part of the panel.
The names of the JDU leaders, particularly Nitish, have raised eyebrows given the Bihar chief minister's aggressive political campaign against the BJP and Modi.
Upadhyaya was the founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the BJP's predecessor. The Modi government has named some key schemes after him and there appears to be an effort to elevate him as a national icon in the league of Mahatma Gandhi.
In BJP circles, it was seen as a sign of Nitish's effort to re-establish contact with the old ally to keep the dominance of RJD chief Lalu Prasad in his government under check.
Tyagi, however, sought to rubbish such speculation. He said Nitish's fight against the BJP's ideology of "cultural nationalism", "pseudo-nationalism" and communalism would continue.
"Deendayal Upadhyaya and our ideologue Ram Manohar Lohia were together in fighting the Congress. The era of anti-Congressism is over. It is now anti-BJPism and Nitish will continue to fight the BJP," Tyagi said.
Referring to Nitish's effort to stitch a "fourth front" for the Uttar Pradesh elections, he said it was aimed to stop the BJP from capturing power in the heartland state.
Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh today announced his party's intention to join hands with the JDU for the Uttar Pradesh polls. The RLD was earlier expected to merge with the JDU but leaders from both sides said the first step would be to jointly contest the elections and then work out the merger.
