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Patna: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who unexpectedly exited the INDIA bloc last week and joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party, on Wednesday said he had urged the Congress and other members of the Opposition’s alliance to not name the political group ‘Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance or INDIA’. Justifying his move to join the rival National Democratic Alliance, the Janata Dal (United) stalwart accused the alliance of inaction regarding finalising seat-sharing agreements for the Lok Sabha assembly elections.
“I was urging them to choose another name for the alliance. But they had already finalised it. I was trying so hard. They did not do even one thing. Till today they haven’t decided which party will contest how many seats. This is why I left them and came back to who I was with initially. I will keep working for the people of Bihar,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Nitish Kumar also attacked Rahul Gandhi, saying he is trying to claim fake credit for the Bihar caste census.
“Has he forgotten when the caste census happened? I conducted it in the presence of 9 parties. In 2019-2020, I would talk about conducting caste census everywhere, from assembly to public meetings… He is taking fake credit, what can I do? Let it be,” he added.
Kumar’s party, Janata Dal (United) had blamed the Congress for his exit. Its leader KC Tyagi alleged the party made Mamata Banerjee propose Mallikarjun Kharge’s name as the prime ministerial face of the alliance as part of the conspiracy to usurp INDIA bloc’s leadership.
Reacting to Kumar’s move, the Congress had called him a chameleon.
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This is fourth time over the last 10 years that Nitish Kumar has switched sides. He was instrumental in bringing the Opposition under the umbrella alliance. He also organized the first meeting of the INDIA bloc.
Since JD(U)’s move to the NDA, the two sides have been sniping at each other.
While JD(U) leader KC Tyagi called the Congress politically untouchable, Jairam Ramesh said Kumar’s exit was “good riddance”.
“There is going to be absolutely no adverse impact on INDIA bloc of Kumar’s exit. Many leaders are heaving a sigh of relief and saying thank god this man is gone. It is good riddance. It is true that Kumar had hosted the first meeting of opposition leaders in Patna, and had been attending all subsequent conclaves. But, although we could not make out what were his plans, in the past two or three months his behaviour was not inspiring trust,” Ramesh was quoted as saying by PTI.
Nitish Kumar’s big switch came just days after Mamata Banerjee announced her party will contest the upcoming general elections alone in Bengal.
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