Jharkhand Assembly Elections: JD(U) Denies Any Alliance With Saryu Roy

Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) has said that the party has not decided on contesting Jharkhand assembly elections in alliance with Bharatiya Jantantra Morcha (BJM).

Santosh Kumar Soni, general secretary of JD(U)’s Jharkhand unit, said that Saryu Roy, president of BJM has not talked with any senior leader of state in this regard. He also denied that Roy and Nitish Kumar held any discussion about the alliance.

In a press release, Soni said, “Saryu Roy is continuously making baseless statements after having a formal meeting with Nitish Kumar. Jharkhand state JD(U) denies this. The statement that Saryu Roy is giving about his party and JD(U) is his personal statement. He should stop making such absurd statements.”

Sagar Kumar, spokesperson of Jharkhand JD(U) said that JD(U) is an old and important constituent of National Democratic Alliance (NDA). During Lok Sabha elections, JD(U) canvassed in favour of NDA leaders and will continue to do so in upcoming assembly elections.

However, Kumar further added that any final decision in this regard will be taken by party president Nitish Kumar. “State unit of JD(U) has not received any instruction regarding the alliance,” he added.

On 13 July, 2024, Roy wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that BJM has entered into an alliance with JD(U) for upcoming assembly elections in the state. With his X statement, Roy embedded a photo of his meeting with Nitish Kumar.

Neither the national nor Bihar leadership of JD(U) has made any announcement in this regard. Despite Roy and Nitish Kumar being close friends, Roy’s past is a big hindrance for alliance with any party.

Roy was not a fully loyal member of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He even played a key role in spoiling BJP’s 2019 bid to regain power.

Even this time around, Roy has kept his options open with JD(U) and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. These days, he is regularly meeting various leaders, including Yashwant Sinha and Hemant Soren.