Not good for democracy: Arvind Kejriwal on Nitish Kumar's flip-flop move to NDA
New Delhi, Jan 29: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar did not do the right thing by exiting INDIA bloc, calling his conduct not good for democracy.
Kejriwal made the remark at a press conference while responding to a question about Nitish forming a new government with BJP in Bihar.
"I feel that he should not have left. He has done wrong. Such conduct is not good for democracy. What my understanding is that this (his exit) will cause loses for NDA in Bihar, instead of benefitting them. INDIA bloc will benefit," he said.
Nitish Kumar Sunday resigned as the Chief Minister of Bihar, saying "things were not working well" for him in the 'Mahagathbandhan' or the grand alliance and the opposition bloc INDIA, and formed a new government with the BJP, which he had dumped less than 18 months ago.
Besides JD (U), RJD, Congress, and Left parties were the other constituents of the now no more Mahagathbandhan.
Kumar's latest crossover, his fifth in a little over a decade, is being seen as a big setback for the opposition unity ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
In reference to the Chandigarh municipal elections, the AAP supremo said that Tuesday might bring a message of the first victory for the INDIA bloc as the Aam Aadmi Party-Congress alliance could win the polls.
Last week, the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the Chandigarh mayoral polls be held on January 30, quashing the administration's "unreasonable, unjustified and arbitrary" decision to postpone the election.
While allowing a petition challenging the order of the Chandigarh deputy commissioner, who is the authority for holding the mayoral polls, postponing the election from January 18 to February 6, the court also observed that the grounds on which the polls were deferred were "totally absurd and frivolous".
Under the Congress-AAP alliance, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will fight for the mayor's seat while the Congress will contest the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
AAP is part of the INDIA bloc and is in seat-sharing talks with Congress for five states -- Delhi, Punjab, Gujarat, Goa, and Haryana.
The Punjab units of both Congress and AAP have ruled out any alliance between the parties in the state for upcoming Lok Sabha polls, though a final decision is yet to be announced.
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Trump says he ‘hasn’t even thought about’ continuing Iran ceasefire
Washington: US President Donald Trump has said he has not yet considered whether he would continue the ceasefire involving Iran, while also claiming the United States holds the advantage in negotiations.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said he was prepared to make a deal with “whoever is running the show” in Iran.
“They are fighting with each other, there’s tremendous infighting. They’re probably fighting for leadership in many cases. I think they’re fighting not to be leader because we knocked out two levels of leaders,” he said.
Trump added, “When they want they can call me. We have all the cards, we’ve won everything.”
Referring to ongoing negotiations, he said, “They gave us a paper that should’ve been better. And, interestingly, immediately when I cancelled it [envoy trip to Pakistan], within 10 minutes we got a new paper that was much better.”
“We talked about they will not have a nuclear weapon, very simple … They offered a lot, but not enough,” he added.
When asked whether he would continue the ceasefire, Trump replied, “I haven’t even thought about it.”
The remarks come as uncertainty remains over the future of the temporary truce and broader negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
