Lalu can get me shot, do little else: Nitish

“He can get me shot. He can’t do anything else. If he wants, he can get me shot...” Kumar told reporters outside the Patna airport after returning from campaigning in Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur Assembly constituencies, which are due for bypolls on October 30. Both seats were won by Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) in 2020 assembly polls.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar Tuesday said that Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad could get him shot but could do nothing else.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar during bypolls campaign at Kusheshwar Asthan assembly constituency in Darbhanga on Tuesday. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

Kumar was responding to Prasad’s earlier statement that he would ensure the visarjan (immersion of idols in water) of Kumar and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

“He can get me shot. He can’t do anything else. If he wants, he can get me shot...” Kumar told reporters outside the Patna airport after returning from campaigning in Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur Assembly constituencies, which are due for bypolls on October 30. Both seats were won by Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) in 2020 assembly polls.

Referring to the RJD chief, Kumar said, “When they were given time, they did nothing during their tenure. The state of roads, schools and the condition of scheduled tribes and castes in their tenure are visible to all. We have worked for the SCs, STs and for the Backward Classes. There were so many people who migrated from the state due to unemployment during his tenure.”

“We have given reservation to women in the Bihar Police. We are working for development and providing employment. For the education of girls, we gave an inter school to every panchayat,” the chief minister said. “I always worked for the people. How will they get publicity if they do not speak about me?”

In 2020, the ruling NDA returned to power with 125 seats in the 243-member Bihar Legislative Assembly.

The BJP won 74 seats, JD(U) 43 while eight seats were won by two other NDA constituents.

The RJD, on the other hand, emerged as the single largest party with 75 seats while its ally Congress won only 19 of the 70 seats it had contested.