The BJP has accused Chief Nitish Kumar of betraying the trust of people of Bihar and refuted the allegation that the BJP wanted to break the Janata Dal(U) and made RCP Singh Union Minister without Kumar’s consent.
Lashing out at the JD(U), Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned, “Wasn’t the 2020 election won on the name of Narendra Modi? The 2019 LS polls in Bihar was won in the name of which party?”
Taunting the JD(U), Prasad further said, “They left the RJD citing reasons of the corruption in the party, so what happened to the corruption allegations now? Is that story over? They have insulted the mandate of the citizens of Bihar time and again.”
“If they had issues with the BJP, why did they join hands in 2020? They should’ve refrained from doing so back then, why wait for two years? They want to win the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections, taste victory in the name of Modi and then leave whenever they wish. This is insulting the will of the people, which we condemn,” the BJP leader said.
Former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi dismissed JD(U)’s allegations that the BJP wanted to break the party and that it made RCP Singh Union Minister without Kumar’s consent.
He said the JD(U) was looking for an excuse to break ties with the BJP, and underlined that “the BJP will come back to power with a thumping majority in 2024”. “It is a white lie that the BJP had made Singh Union Minister without Nitish consent. It is also a lie that the BJP wanted to break the JD(U),” Sushil said.
Singh was made Union Minister last year as JD(U) representative but forced to resign last month as his Rajya Sabha term ended and his party denied him another term.
Union Minister Ashwini Choubey accused Kumar of being “opportunistic” and said those “betraying” Bihar want to create obstacles in its development. “The BJP does not suppress anyone, does not betray anyone. Those people betraying Bihar want to create obstacles in its development. The development of Bihar has been a priority for us from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government to the Modi Government,” Choubey told a TV channel.
“Despite having lesser seats, we made him (Kumar) the Chief Minister. He has deceived the people twice. He is suffering from arrogance,” the BJP leader said.
Asked about Kumar’s immenent tie-up with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Choubey said, “Vinaash kaal vipreet buddhi” (when doom approaches, one loses wisdom). Earlier in the day, Singh also tweeted expressing similar sentiments saying that JDU’s snapping of ties is a “betrayal of the mandate of 2020 given by the people of Bihar in favour of NDA.”
Sushil, now Rajya Sabha MP, enjoyed good rapport with Kumar while serving as his deputy for many years. Amid breakup in NDA coalition in Bihar, Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party leader and Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras announced that his party will remain with the BJP as it is impossible to get another leader like Modi. “Our party is with the BJP 100 per cent,” Paras told PTI following a meeting of its parliamentary board where a decision to back the BJP was taken amid an imminent collapse of the saffron party’s alliance with the Janata Dal (United).
A decision was taken to ally with the BJP in 2014 under the leadership of LJP founder and Dalit stalwart Ram Vilas Paswan, and his party will continue to adhere to his decision, he said. Paras is a younger brother of Paswan. His decision is significant as the split engineered by him in the LJP against the leadership of Chirag Paswan was seen to have the backing of Kumar’s JDU.
Kumar was unhappy with Paswan’s decision to field candidates against his party in 2020 Assembly polls, leading to a drastic fall in the JDU’s tally and relegating it to the status of a junior partner of the BJP. Paras was then inducted as a Cabinet Minister in the Modi Government.
“It is impossible to get a leader like Modi. He is the needs of the country. Till I do politics I will be in the NDA” Paras said. His party has five MPs in Lok Sabha.