At last Chief Minister Nitish Kumar clarified on his neech (below standard) remarks he allegedly hurled at Union Minister and RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha which created a brouhaha in political circles and gave opportunity to his bete noire and his supporters to mount attack on him.
At the JD(U) legislature party meeting on Monday late evening, Nitish said he never used this word against anybody. He said a TV news channel distorted and gave wrong colour to what he had said about the level of debate.
He said, “A TV channel invited me at its programme and wanted to discuss development issues. I had said that no political questions should be asked. But the anchor started asking political questions. I raised question on the standard of the channel and said that the media house should not stoop so low (Itna neeche star par nahi utarna chahiye). My comment was not aimed at any individual.”
The comment had come when the anchor asked him about the charges of Kushwaha against him. The RLSP chief who is struggling to negotiate with BJP leadership on seat sharing and found himself cornered, tried to take advantage of the situation by accusing Nitish that he called him “neech.”
While he demanded a clarification from Nitish, his supporters protested and leaders of some other parties like Jitan Ram Manjhi, Shivanand Tewari and Arun Kumar supported Kushwaha and attacked the CM. Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi went on record saying that the remark was not against Kushwaha or anybody else and that he was present at that programme. He also accused RLSP leader of raking up a non-issue for political gain.
The clarification of Nitish is unlikely to satisfy Kushwaha because he too knows that the CM had not called him name and that he used this opportunity only to malign the JD(U) president and make an issue in bargaining seat sharing.
But despite all his efforts and antics, Kushwaha has emerged to be a loser. His both MLAs Lalan Paswan and Sudhanshu Shekhar have turned against him and were seen at the meeting of the BJP legislature party on Monday.
They said that they are in RLSP and NDA and Kushwaha is free to go anywhere. They also claimed that party’s symbol ceiling fan is theirs. Paswan refused to accept Kushwaha as president of RLSP and said he ceased to hold the post. Both of them also have called on Nitish.
“RLSP is already divided but Kushwah should say who is insulting him,” said Paswan and added that when Kushwaha failed to have control over his three MPs and two MLAs how he could rule Bihar.
After failing to get an appointment with BJP chief Amit Shah, the RLSP leader said he is seeking time from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the poll issues and seat sharing. Kushwaha who had earlier given a deadline of November 30 to the BJP to take a decision, urged the PM to give him appointment between November 27-30.
The political circles here said that an appointment or no appointment with the PM would clear how much weight the BJP leadership was giving to him. In the first week of December the RLSP has called a meeting at Motihari to chart out future course of action.