Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United (JDU) will send a five-member team to Ladakh to find out the truth about China violating the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and occupying Indian territory.

The party also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of being silent on the issue.

“Our party will send a five-member team to Ladakh to assess the ground reality there and find out how the neighbouring country has taken thousands of square kilometres of India’s land,” JDU national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh aka Lalan Singh said.

“China has occupied our land while the Modi government is keeping quiet on it. Every child of Ladakh knows that China has captured our territory. We will examine the claims made by Modi and the central government,” Singh added.

The JDU national president was speaking at a training programme of the JDU farmer and cooperative cell here in the state capital and asked the party’s state unit chief Umesh Singh Kushwaha to constitute a team for the purpose.

Nitish’s party is yet to name the leaders who will be a part of it or when the team will visit Ladakh.

Singh’s announcement is being seen as a move to put Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the mat. At the same time, the JDU has increased its publicity campaign to highlight the work being done by Nitish in Bihar.

Political experts see this as JDU’s move to pit Nitish — who has been a prime mover behind the newly formed Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) — against Modi to highlight his capabilities and suitability as a prime ministerial candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The Bihar chief minister had first broken away from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2013 after Modi was chosen as the prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP is already facing heat over the issue by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who visited Ladakh recently.