Setting all speculation to rest, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday ruled out his party’s alliance with the Congress in the upcoming lok Sabha polls.
Nitish Kumar also attacked the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi saying that neither would the Gujarat riots be forgotten nor would the people who were behind it be forgiven.
Talking to journalists on the sidelines of his weekly janta darbar he said: “There is no question of the JD(U) forming an alliance with the Congress in Bihar for the lok Sabha polls. I get news about my party’s alliance with the Congress in newspapers. let me make it clear that no talks regarding this are going on.”
However, when asked about the possibility of an alliance with the lok Janshakti Party, Nitish Kumar refrained from making any direct comment on this. “It’s for the lJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan to decide”, Nitish said. Kumar, however, lavished praise on Paswan saying: “He is a very nice person.”
Earlier, after meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi, Paswan declared that he would go with the Congress. “My alliance with the Congress party is final, but now it’s on the Congress to decide whether they want to go with the RJD or the JD(U),” said Paswan.
Kumar, who is the driving force of the JD(U), said at the moment his party has reached an understanding with the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) of Babulal Marandi.
“When we reach a decision on seat sharing with the JVM, we will tell the media,” he said. Without taking the name of the Gujarat Chief Minister and the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Nitish Kumar attacked him on the Gujarat riots issue.
“One thing is certain, neither would the 2002 Gujarat riots be forgotten nor would the people behind it be forgiven. The country is not ready for this because the people of the country are sensitive,” he said.
The Bihar Chief Minister also lambasted the manner in which the RJD chief lalu Prasad Yadav made “sarcastic remarks” on him during a function organized by a media organization.
“Is this the way leaders should make comments at a public functionIJ There must be some limitations,” he said. lalu Prasad had on Sunday attacked Kumar at an inaugural function of a Hindi newspaper saying that Nitish Kumar had “gagged the media in Bihar.”