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BJP doors permanently shut for Nitish: Shah in Bihar
Addressing a rally at Lauriya in West Champaran district of Bihar, Shah said Nitish Kumar prime ministerial dream has kept haunting him “every three years”.
Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has permanently shut its doors for Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who he accused of dumping his party in the state only to further his “prime ministerial ambitions”.
Addressing a rally at Lauriya in West Champaran district of Bihar, Shah said Nitish Kumar prime ministerial dream has kept haunting him “every three years”.
“Despite BJP emerging as the single largest party, we kept our promise and made Nitish Kumar the CM. His dreams of becoming PM keeps haunting him every three years. In pursuance of the dream, he has landed in the lap of Lalu Prasad Yadav and Sonia Gandhi’s Congress. BJP is now disgusted with his flip-flops and has shut doors for Nitish Kumar forever,” the home minister said at the rally which is being seen as BJP’s launch of campaign for the 2024 parliamentary elections.
Lauriya is in Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha constituency, a stronghold of Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal-United (JD-U), currently represented by its leader Sunil Mahato in the Lok Sabha.
“... After his all fights from the days of (socialist veteran) Jai Prakash Narayan against the Congress and ‘jungle raj’, Nitish Kumar has become ‘avsarwaadi’ (opportunist) from being ‘vikaswaadi’ (pro-development) for his prime ministerial ambitions,” Shah said.
He accused CM Kumar of plunging Bihar into “jungle raj” for which he used to blame the previous Congress and RJD rule. “Nitish Kumar must specify the date for the coronation of Lalu Yadav’s son as CM of Bihar. Bihar is in a bad state as the law and order has deteriorated already. Journalists who speak against government are being murdered and the state has drifted into half jungle raj. When is he going to turn the state into full jungle raj?” the home minister said.
During his speech, Shah also attacked RJD chief Lalu Yadav.
“I openly challenge Laluji and Nitish Babu to let the people of Bihar know how the state has been benefitted during the UPA vis a vis Modi government. Between 2009-2014, only ₹50,000 crore was given to Bihar, but during the Modi government from 2014-2019, over ₹1 lakh crore was given to the state,” he said.
Later, Shah addressed farmers in Patna under the aegis of Swami Shahjanand Jayanti, in remembrance of the legendary agrarian leader from the influential Bhumihar community who commanded immense popularity among farmers.
“At this time, Swami Sahajanand ji’s Bihar is going down the drain. We have to take it out. Nitish ji has sided with those who were involved in fodder scam. Will the farmers be satisfied with this?,” he asked.
Shah’s address to farmers comes amid protests by farmers over land compensation in western and south-western parts of Bihar.
BJP and JD-U had fought the last Lok Sabha polls in 2019 in alliance and won 17 and 16 seats, respectively, of the total 40 seats in Bihar.
In August last year, JD-U snapped ties with BJP and joined the RJD-led alliance to form a new government in the state, once again with Nitish Kumar as the chief minister.
