Nitish Kumar can return to NDA any time, says Athawale; takes dig at opposition alliance
Mumbai, Jul 30: Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Sunday said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who snapped ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last year, can return to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) any time.
Talking to PTI, Athawale said Nitish Kumar was part of the NDA earlier and despite the BJP getting more seats in the assembly elections in Bihar last time, he was made the chief minister.
The minister also took a dig at the opposition's INDIA alliance, alleging that its sole agenda was to remove Prime Minister Narendra Modi from power.
Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) snapped ties with the saffron party and walked out of the NDA in August 2022. He later joined hands with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and formed a new government. He is one of the most significant faces of the opposition parties' alliance - INDIA.
"Nitish Kumar can come back to us anytime," the Union Minister of State for Social Justice, whose Republican Party of India (Athawale) is part of the ruling NDA, said.
Athawale said, Nitish Kumar had reservations about the name of the opposition's INDIA alliance, and also there are divisions within the grouping on who will be its convener and also the prime ministerial candidate.
"I was in Patna yesterday and I was asked about the reported displeasure of Nitish Kumar who had left the Bengaluru meet of the opposition alliance early," Athawale said.
"I said if he (Nitish Kumar) is not happy, he shouldn't go to Mumbai (for the next meeting of the INDIA alliance). He had been with the NDA earlier and can come back to us anytime," he added.
Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, known by its abbreviation 'INDIA', is an opposition front announced by the leaders of 26 parties to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Athawale, however, said that 'INDIA' stood for "Introduction Negative Date Idea Alliance".
"Its agenda is 'Modi hatao' (remove Modi), while our agenda is development of the country," he said.
The minister claimed that Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar are of no use to Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, while she is of no use to the opposition in Maharashtra.
"Similarly, Mamata Banerjee and Communists have been at loggerheads for long," he said.
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Trump returns from China; terms meeting with Xi as 'G-2'
Washington (PTI): US President Donald Trump returned from a visit to China, describing his discussions with President Xi Jinping as a meeting of leaders of "two great countries".
Trump landed at the Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on the outskirts of the US capital on Friday evening, claiming to have struck important trade deals, including one for China's purchase of 200 aircraft from Boeing, with a promise for another 750, as well as agreements benefiting the American agriculture sector.
The US President reached here after a brief refuelling stop at Anchorage in Alaska.
“It’s the two great countries. I call it the G-2. This is the G-2. I think it’ll go down as a very important moment in history,” Trump told Fox News in an interview after meeting Xi on Thursday.
The Washington Post reported that Trump’s remarks put China on an equal footing with the US, exactly what Xi had aimed to achieve with the visit.
“Over two days of meetings here, the carefully choreographed pageantry and the reciprocal gestures of friendship and respect between the world’s two most powerful men displayed a geopolitical dynamic that the Chinese have long craved and Americans had resisted," the Post said.
Trump told Fox News that the relationship with Xi was important and suggested that China may not resort to any aggressive moves over Taiwan, at least till he is in office.
“It’s not a takeover. They just don’t want to see this place — we’ll call it a place because nobody knows how to define it — but they don’t want to see it go independent,” Trump said.
“I don’t think they’ll do anything when I’m here. When I’m not here. I think they might, to be honest with you,” Trump said.
"I want them to cool down. I want China to cool down," he said.
"We're not looking to have wars, and if you kept it the way it is, I think China's going to be OK with that," he added.
The US President said he had invited Xi for a visit to Washington in September.
“Xi has done something Chinese leaders have been working toward for decades — bringing an American president to Beijing as an undisputed peer,” said Julian Gewirtz, who served as China director on the National Security Council under President Joe Biden.
“Xi used the opulent optics of the visit to make clear to the world that China and the United States are the two dominant, equally matched superpowers. There is no going back.”
Trump’s friendly statements toward Xi and the Chinese people were being amplified in China’s state-controlled media, sending the message that “we’re getting along better with the Americans,” John Delury, a senior Fellow at the Asia Society, was quoted as saying by The New York Times.
It was understandable that Trump wanted to be polite to Xi, but that the American president’s gushing approach “weakens Trump and the US”, R. Nicholas Burns, the ambassador to China during the Biden administration, was quoted as saying in The New York Times.
“Xi did not hesitate to warn Trump over Taiwan. Trump should not hesitate to be frank about our concerns, too,” he said.
Trump and Xi are expected to meet at least three times this year.
The US President has invited Xi to the White House in September.
Trump may travel to Shenzhen in China for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in November. And Xi could come to the G-20 summit in December in Miami.
“This is a summit again that was heavier on symbolism than it was on substance — focus on managing problems, not on solving the problems that exist between the US and China,” said Rush Doshi, former National Security Council deputy senior director for China and Taiwan in the Biden administration.
“The way that both leaders talked about the future indicates that this is going to be part of a process that will play out this year,” said Kurt Campbell, former deputy secretary of State in the Biden administration.
