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‘Fear of another u-turn by Nitish’: Kanhaiya Kumar on Modi govt's PM-CM removal bills
BJP does not have Lok Sabha majority on its own, remains in power at Centre with support of Nitish Kumar's JDU and Chandrababu Naidu's TDP
In a dig at Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and his majority partner BJP, Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar said on Thursday that the Modi government's recent bills in Parliament, which propose new norms for removing leaders arrested on serious charges, were aimed at preventing BJP allies like Nitish from “making yet another about-turn”.
He named Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu, too, as one such ally in the BJP-led NDA.
The BJP, which does not have a Lok Sabha majority on its own, remains in power at the Centre with the support of Nitish Kumar's JDU and Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
Kanhaiya was speaking at a press conference in Lakhisarai as part of Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi's ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’.
“The BJP is sending a signal to Nitish ji that ‘if you try to do yet another about turn, we will frame you in some case, keep you behind bars for 30 days and get you sacked’. All his MLAs of the JDU will then be bought over and made to sing ‘Narendra Modi zindabad’,” he said.
Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday moved a trio of bills in the Lok Sabha, which seek to allow for removal of the prime minister, chief ministers, and other ministers if they are arrested on serious charges for a period of 30 days.
The Opposition has pointed out that these bills speak of mere allegations, not requiring conviction by a court. They fear central probe agencies would arrested Opposition leaders and force them out using these rules.
Kanhaiya said “arrogance of power” made the BJP miss that if these bills become law, “they will hit the BJP hard once it is out of power”.
Earlier, Congress ally RJD's Tejashwi Yadav made similar assertions. “They are bringing this for Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu. They have only one job – to blackmail. If PMLA is slapped in ED cases, there can be no quick bail. These are torture tactics.”
(with PTI inputs)
