RJD supremo lalu Prasad on Tuesday said Nitish Kumar does not deseve any support and “I will not help him any more, not at least in this life”. Replying to charges and claims made by the Chief Minister a day earlier, lalu said he did not agree on Nitish’s name to lead mahagathbandhan in Bihar before the Assembly polls. But, he agreed at the behest of Mulayam Singh Yadav, he added.
“By changing the side every now and then Nitish has become palturam,” he quipped.
Reacting to Nitish’s assertion that no one has capacity to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi, lalu had a piece of advice for the CM, “Wear a saffron chadar and chant Jai Shri Ram. But, believe me, you will soon be ousted from there.”
A combative lalu replied to each issue Nitish had raked up in his Press conference on Monday in a tongue-in-cheek style. The RJD chief also alleged Nitish’s role in CBI cases against him and family members.
“I did say that I am even ready to consume poison in order to stop the communal forces. Nitish came to my house and said in presence of my wife and both sons that ‘we both are getting older and just give me one term’ and then the new generation would take up.”
Recalling the days when Nitish had resigned after humiliating defeat in 2014 lok Sabha polls and made Jitan Ram Manjhi to sit on his chair thinking he would act like a puppet but when the puppet started making loud noises he was aghast.
“Nitish with Prashant Kishore came to Mehrauli farmhouse and asked me to get rid him of Manjhi. I and Sharad Yadav revived the political career of Nitish by forcing Manjhi to quit,” said lalu.
The RJD supremo said he is in touch with Sharad Yadav, who is unhappy with Nitish’s deision, and has invited him to attend his August 27 “BJP bhagao, Desh bachao” rally. “He (Nitish) says nobody can challenge Narendra Modi but we will remove him and throw out BJP,” he declared.
Saying that he was senior to Nitish in politics, he said when he was active in students politics and Jaya Prakash Narain had made him convenor of the managing committee of the students agitation in which, he claimed, Nitish was nowhere. “He said he got 450 votes of 500 votes from Engineering College but the fact is that I got votes of all castes and class from each college of the Patna University,” countered lalu.
Claiming that when Nitish fought alone the 2014 lok Sabha polls the Assembly segment wise postion of the JD(U) was worse. He said the RJD was first and second in 150 seats as per the results of lok Sabha polls, JD(U) had only 39 seats as first and second while Congress had lead in 46 constituencies. “In 2015 election I had accomodated candidates of JD(U) in the traditional seats of RJD and that was the reason that he could win 71 seats,” lalu claimed.