Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday launched a scathing attack on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for changing sides and announced that all doors for his entry into the BJP-led NDA have been closed forever.
Addressing a conclave of farmers and labourers in Patna hours after a rally in West Champaran district, Shah said the JD(U) leader had joined hands with former adversaries Congress and RJD and “betrayed” the BJP because of his “Prime Ministerial ambitions”.
“Nitish babu had ditched us in the past”, said Shah, referring to the break-up in 2013, “but we reposed trust in him again in 2017. We won more seats than his JD(U) in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the assembly polls a year later, still, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched for his return as the chief minister”.
“Now Nitish babu is sitting at the doorsteps (dagar par) of (RJD supremo) Lalu Prasad. A time will come when it will be his turn to suffer vishwasghaat (betrayal). But Nitish babu, now you shall never be admitted into the NDA”, the senior BJP leader said.
“I have never seen in my life a man who spouts lies so blatantly (itna jhooth bolne wala) and so treacherous (itna vishwasghat karne wala),” said Shah.
Nitish Kumar ditched NDA in 2013 ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In 2015, he joined Mahagathbandhan allies Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the alliance emerged victorious in the Bihar Assembly elections. Two years later in 2017, Kumar broke the alliance with Mahagathbandhan and joined the BJP. JD(U) fought 2019 Lok Sabha and 2020 Bihar Assembly elections in a coalition. In 2022, Kumar aligned with Lalu Prasad’s RJD and Congress, leaving the BJP.
Shah said that the BJP will “achieve power on its own” in the state in 2025 assembly polls, “with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the saddle for yet another term in office after the 2024 elections”.
Earlier, he had addressed a rally at Lauria in West Champaran district, falling under Balmiki Nagar Lok Sabha constituency, which has been a BJP stronghold though it was given away to the JD(U) in 2019 as part of seat-sharing arrangements.
Shah also made repeated references to murmurs of a “clandestine agreement” Kumar had reached with Lalu Prasad that the latter’s younger son and heir apparent will be handed over to the chief minister’s chair.
“This has led to a lot of confusion in the JD(U) itself,” said the BJP leader, indirectly referring to the recent exit of Upendra Kushwaha.
“Doubts have emerged in people’s minds too. If he (Kumar) has struck such a deal, he should make public the date on which he intends to hand over the charge to his deputy.
“I dare Nitish babu to tell the people of Bihar the date by which he wants to plunge Bihar into jungle raj which he had vowed to root out,” Shah said.
The union home minister, who also holds the cooperative portfolio, claimed that the Modi government’s assistance to Bihar far surpassed what was granted during the Congress-led UPA regime in which Lalu Prasad was also a minister.
He also alleged that “many schemes and projects have been approved for Bihar but these have been stalled by Nitish babu who cannot tolerate the BJP getting credit even where it is due”.
Taunting the Bihar CM for “sitting in the laps of Sonia Gandhi and Lalu Prasad”, Shah likened the JD(U)’s alliance with RJD to “attempts at mixing oil with water”.
“Water and oil cannot blend. So, here we have RJD, like oil rising to the surface and the JD(U), like water, disappearing beneath”, said Shah, in an indirect reference to apprehensions that the chief minister’s party was getting overshadowed by the domineering new ally.
(with PTI inputs)
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