It was Nitish Kumar's decision to ally with BJP again: Pavan Varma

New Delhi: In a veiled attack on his party chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, JD-U leader Pavan Varma on Sunday said it was his decision only to re-align with the BJP.

Responding to a question at the Times LitFest about the reasons that led the JD-U to ally again with the BJP in Bihar, Varma, in a plain one line response, said: "It was Nitish Kumar`s decision." 

Elaborating in response to another question by an audience member holding that until Nitish Kumar made the decision to rejoin the NDA, he was seen by many as a possible leader to lead the opposition in its entirety, he said: "I don`t know why he made that decision." 

Suddenly snapping ties with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress with which his JD-U had fought the last assembly elections, Nitish Kumar had led his JD-U to again align with the BJP at a crucial juncture before the presidential elections. Many from the party, including veteran leader Sharad Yadav, had openly protested against the decision.