After Congress leader Rahul Gandhi mocked Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for rejoining the NDA on Tuesday, deputy CM Vijay Sinha came out in defence of the CM. Sinha said that Rahul Gandhi ‘was born with a golden spoon in his mouth’ and that ‘he would never understand the pain of the public.’ “Those who spend time on the ground understand the situation,” Sinha said.

Addressing reporters in Patna, Sinha said, “Rahul Gandhi will never be able to understand the social and geographical conditions of this place because he was born with a golden spoon in his mouth. Those who spend time on the ground understand the situation. Dynastic families with criminal and corrupt mindsets can never understand the pain of the public.”

READ | Nitish takes a U-turn whenever BJP exerts pressure: Rahul

Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday slammed Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for “taking a U-turn each time little pressure is exerted” by the Bharatiya Janata Party. Addressing the public in Bihar’s Purnea Rahul said,” Right now Baghel ji (former Chhattisgarh CM) told me a joke. The joke goes like this…Your chief minister took oath at Governor’s house. Some of his ministers also took oath. Celebrations were going on. Nitish Kumar decided to go back to his home. Suddenly while going back he realised he has left his shawl at the Governor’s house. He went back and met the Governor. Governor was shocked and said you came back so quick this time.”

“So this is the condition of Bihar a little pressure is exerted, and he (Nitish Kumar) makes a U-turn,” Gandhi said. Taking a dig at the Congress leader Bihar deputy chief minister Samrat Chaudhary said that it is “Rahul Gandhi who is solely responsible for the current condition of Lalu Prasad Yadav.”

On Sunday, Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the chief minister of Bihar for the ninth occasion at Raj Bhawan in Patna, marking another shift in alliances as he joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance once again. It was for the second time in two years that Nitish Kumar switched political affiliations, marking his fifth crossover in just over a decade.

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Kumar’s choice to align with the BJP resulted in allegations of him being labelled a “chameleon” and “Paltu Ram” due to his frequent changes in political alliances. RJD leader and former deputy CM of Bihar Tejashwi Yadav anticipated that the JD(U) is on the brink of being “finished” in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Tejashwi Yadav said, “Khel abhi shuru hua hai, khel abhi baki hain. What I say, I do…I can give you in writing that the JDU party will be finished in 2024. The public is with us…”

Nevertheless, the BJP declared that its alliance with Kumar was “inherent” and emphasised that the NDA’s “double engine government” would benefit Bihar. Party officials further contended that the INDIA bloc would eventually break apart as the alliance lacks any “ideological basis.”

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also alleged that Kumar’s decision to break away from the Mahagathbandhan and align with the NDA was premeditated. He accused the JD(U) chief of keeping the INDIA bloc uninformed about the move.

(With ANI inputs)