After winning their lone seat in the 2018 Nagaland Assembly elections, which was won by G Kaito Aye from 36-Satakha A/C, the Janata Dal (United) is all set for Nagaland general election once again.
In a letter to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, the national president of JD(U), Rajiv Ranjan Singh has declined to join Bharat Jodo Yatra, which is set to conclude on January 30 in Srinagar citing prior obligations to launch the party’s election campaign in Nagaland on the same day.
Kharge had earlier sent an invitation of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra to Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) . However, the party declined the invitation through a letter addressed to Kharge.
The letter stated, “There are no two opinions that there is a decline in democratic values in the country and the constitutional institutions that are supposed to ensure checks and balances on unrestrained executive power are being systematically destroyed. Much as I would like to be present at the historical event, I regret my inability to do so as I need to be present at the launching of the party’s election campaign in Nagaland the same day.”
Congress has invited several leaders and heads of anti-BJP parties at the concluding event of Bharat Jodo Yatra. The Yatra is seen as an attempt to revitalize the Congress party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year.
The absence of JD(U) from Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra’s final event and the squabble for BJP tickets in Nagaland has been another setback for the Congress party. Meanwhile, concerns to compete with the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections have been largely increasing within the opposition parties.
The JDU chief nonetheless asked the Congress to unite the opposition parties. “My party sincerely believes that the need of the hour is a unified opposition and expects that the Indian National Congress takes appropriate steps in this direction,” JD(U) chief Lalan Singh said.
Bharat Jodo Yatra will end with Rahul Gandhi unfurling the national flag at the Congress’s J&K headquarters in Srinagar.