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‘Palturam’, Munger firing: Chirag Paswan continues attack on Nitish Kumar

Chirag Paswan has been relentlessly attacking Nitish Kumar during the campaign for the Bihar assembly elections, even going to the extent of saying that the chief minister will be put behind bars if his LJP comes to power in the state.

Updated on: Nov 2, 2020, 14:18:26 IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By
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Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Chirag Paswan, who has been relentlessly attacking Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar during the campaign for the Bihar assembly elections, on Monday fired a new jibe and slammed the Janata Dal(United) leader over the incident of police firing in Munger. “He (Kumar) is known as Palturam as he was against Lalu Prasad Yadav and then formed a government with him in 2015,” Paswan said.

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) national president Chirag Paswan addresses a press conference ahead of the second phase of the Bihar Assembly election, at party office in Patna (Photo by Santosh Kumar/ Hindustan Times)
Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) national president Chirag Paswan addresses a press conference ahead of the second phase of the Bihar Assembly election, at party office in Patna (Photo by Santosh Kumar/ Hindustan Times)

Click here for full Bihar Assembly Elections 2020 coverage

Paswan was referring to 2015 when both Kumar-led Janata Dal(United) and Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) had contested that year’s Bihar assembly polls as members of the Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance. The alliance won the Bihar assembly elections, with the RJD emerging as the single-largest party with 80 seats and the JD(U) second with 71.

While Kumar was sworn-in as the chief minister, Lalu Yadav’s son, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, became the deputy CM. The alliance, however, collapsed in July 2017 over corruption allegations against Tejashwi, paving the way for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to stitch an alliance with Kumar and come to power in Bihar.

“CM has been wearing ‘Sushasan babu’ tag for the last 15 years. He never spoke about Munger and doesn’t speak a word on corruption,” Paswan said as he continued his attack referring to last week’s incident of police firing at people during the immersion of an idol of goddess Durga in Munger. One person had died while more than two dozen others were injured in the firing.

Read: Ahead of polls in Bihar’s Munger, 1 killed, 27 injured as idol immersion turns violent

“What can be a bigger crime than your own cops firing on innocent people and shooting Durga bhakts. The Nitish Kumar government has taken a form of Mahishasur. Everyone knows that crowds swell up during Durga Puja, so will you shoot at people to control the crowd?” he questioned.

Read: Dismiss Nitish Kumar govt immediately over Munger firing, Grand Alliance tells PM Modi

The LJP chief has been aggressively attacking Kumar, going to the extent of promising to put him behind bars if his party comes to power in the state. Both the JD(U) and LJP are members of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the centre.

Read: Nitish Kumar will be behind bars if LJP comes to power, says Chirag Paswan

The Bihar Assembly Election 2020 kicked off on October 28 with 71 of the state’s 243 assembly seats going to polls. On Tuesday, 94 seats will go to polls in the second phase, while the remaining 78 constituencies will vote in the third and final phase on November 7. Counting of votes will take place on November 10.