Days after Nitish Kumar made a surprise return to the Grand Alliance amid rift with the BJP and took oath as the chief minister of Bihar for the eighth time, along with the RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, his new deputy, the JD(U)-BJP public spat seems to be getting murkier. Leaders from both sides have been hurling allegations amid a war of words.
On Saturday, the BJP’s Sushil Kumar Modi, who was once Nitish’s deputy, lashed out at the Bihar CM in a tweet, and went on to predict the JDU’s decline. “This thing can’t be digested that Nitish Kumar went to Lalu Prasad Yadav to save his party and take refuge,” Sushil Modi tweeted in Hindi.
“JD(U) is not a dynastic party like the RJD and the Congress... neither it’s an alliance based party like the BJP. After Nitish Kumar, the party has no future. This party will either merge with the RJD or decline,” the BJP leader further added.
However, this evoked a strong response from senior JD(U) leader Upendra Kushwaha on Sunday, who said the comment was “not only problematic but highly insulting.” “The party leaders are trying to claim that they did a huge favour on us by making our party leaders a union minister and chief minister," he wrote in a Facebook post in Hindi.
Claiming that the BJP was considered “untouchable” in the 1990s, Kushwaha further said: “Remember 1995-96 when your party was considered untouchable. If it was not for Nitish Kumar and George Fernandes, the party would not have existed,” he wrote, making a reference to alliances forged after the Bombay Convention.
{{/usCountry}}Claiming that the BJP was considered “untouchable” in the 1990s, Kushwaha further said: “Remember 1995-96 when your party was considered untouchable. If it was not for Nitish Kumar and George Fernandes, the party would not have existed,” he wrote, making a reference to alliances forged after the Bombay Convention.
{{/usCountry}}Accusing the BJP of “crossing the limits of ungratefulness”, Kushwaha further said that the party was trying to “change the country’s history”.
Nitish Kumar's decision to join the grand alliance again - after choosing the BJP over Mahagathbandhan in 2017 - had also raised speculation if he was eyeing the 2024 race for the post of Prime Minister. He, however, earlier this week clarified that he had no such goals, as of now.
But he added in the same breath that he would like the opposition parties to work together.