Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is visibly very angry with the Congress, an alliance with the oldest party notwithstanding. His anger spilled over on Sunday once again when he said that the Congress first renounced the ideologies of Mahatma Gandhi and then of Jawaharlal Nehru.
Nitish expressed these views while addressing the State executive meeting of the JD(U) here at the party headquarters. In an oblique reference he said, “We don’t need to follow anyone. We are doing whatever is right whether it is demonetisation or surgical strikes.”
The JD(U) national president’s statement on the Congress is seen in the context of the remarks on him by Ghulam Nabi Azad. The senior Congress leader, in context of Nitish’s support to NDA presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, had commented that “those having more than one ideology take different stands. Otherwise, Nitish had good rapport with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and had been in touch with them on Opposition unity”.
Nitish’s anti-Congress stand has also put a question mark on the mahagathbandhan of which the Congress is an ally with 27 MlAs.
Nitish’s stand on the Congress was warmly welcomed by senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi. The former Deputy CM said Nitish was right to say that he need not take lessons from the Congress which has deviated from its ideologies. “No leader can tolerate the kind of insulting remarks made by Ghulam Nabi Azad against Nitish,” said Modi and advised the CM to have a relook on the relations with the Congress. Modi also had a dig at lalu Prasad saying the RJD chief learnt lessons of corruption from Congress and raised benami assets worth several hundred crores.
The JD(U) national president also stated at the meeting that he would definitely participate in the August 27 rally of RJD billed as “BJP bhagao, Desh bachao” which is expected to be attended by different regional parties of the country. There had been speculations in the political circles that Nitish was unlikely to attend the RJD meeting after reports in a section of media. He said he would attend if gets an invitation.
Nitish said following some different stands taken by him speculations were rife in the political circles about his possible moves but asserted that he would not go against the mandate and continue to serve the people. He also said he has no intention to move to Delhi instead of serving people of Bihar. “I am not in the race for the PM post,” he reiterated.