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In BJP’s latest attack on Nitish over portfolios, a jibe at Tejashwi too
BJP MP Sushil Modi said that “two communities” have grabbed nearly 33 per cent of berths in the 33-strong Nitish Kumar-Tejashwi Yadav new Bihar cabinet. His statement was supposedly a reference of Muslims and Yadavs, largely seen as RJD loyalists.
BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday took a swipe at Nitish Kumar hours after the Bihar chief minister expanded his cabinet in the new Grand Alliance regime. Stating that Kumar “cleverly” kept both home and finance portfolios with his party Janata Dal (United), the former deputy CM said the Janata Dal-United supremo betrayed RJD's Tejashwi Yadav as well.
The BJP leader also referred to the criminal history of some of the new inductees such as Surendra Yadav, Lalit Yadav, Ramanand Yadav and Kartikeya Singh.
“What message does Nitish Kumar want to give by keeping people like Surendra Yadav, Ramanand Yadav and Lalit Yadav in the cabinet?” Modi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Surendra has been allocated the co-operative department, while Lalit and Ramanand have been given charge of public health and mines ministries, respectively.
Also Read | Bihar cabinet expansion: Check the list of ministers, their portfolios here
The Rajya Sabha MP further said that “two communities” have taken nearly 33 per cent of berths in the 33-strong Kumar-Tejashwi cabinet. He was supposedly referring to Muslims and Yadavs, largely considered RJD loyalists.
Meanwhile, Bihar BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal said in a Facebook post that the number of economically backward classes (EBCs) in the new state cabinet has dipped from six to three. The BJP's OBC Morcha national general secretary Nikhil Anand said “marginalisation” of the EBCs was a “betrayal” by Kumar, who won over this “social segment riding on the BJP's back”.
"Nitish and Tejashwi seem to have declared a revolt (bagavat) against the EBCs. The BJP will not allow this injustice", Anand was quoted as saying by PTI.
The BJP held a key meeting of Bihar's core committee in Delhi today. Chaired by party national president JP Nadda, Union home minister Amit Shah was also present at the meet. This was the first such event following Kumar realigning with the RJD.
The meeting reportedly consisted of discussions around the opposition's role and issues to be raised by them, selection of new Bihar BJP chief, and the new LoP in state assembly and legislative council.
