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Posters blaming Nitish Kumar for Bihar bridge collapse put up in Bengaluru
The posters were put up a stone’s throw away from the venue of the meeting of 26 opposition parties as part of efforts to forge a common platform to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party
Posters blaming chief minister Nitish Kumar for the Sultanganj bridge collapse in Bihar were put up in Bengaluru a stone’s throw away from the venue of the meeting of 26 opposition parties.
Kumar attended the meeting as part of efforts to forge a common platform to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2024 national elections.
One of the posters said, “...Sultanganj Bridge - Nitish Kumar’s recurring gift to Bihar: a bridge that keeps collapsing. While Bihar’s bridges buckle under his leadership, trust him to spearhead the ‘Opposition Party’ campaign.”
Another poster called Kumar an “unstable Prime Ministerial contender”. The posters highlighted the dates the bridge collapsed in April 2022 and June this year.
Police removed the posters and launched an investigation to identify the individuals responsible for putting them up, said officials.
Prior to the meeting, former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy questioned Kumar’s “secular” credentials, drawing attention to his past alignments with the BJP.
“If we are the ‘B’ team of the BJP, which team does Kumar belong to? He shared power being in the [BJP-led] NDA [National Democratic Alliance] at the Centre and also formed the government in Bihar. Now, he is part of the government with the Congress and RJD [Rashtriya Janata Dal]. The Congress that is doing secular politics should say something on this.”
Responding to the posters, Karnataka deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar referred to the BJP and said the Congress is ready to fight all these forces. “Nitish Kumar knows our Karnataka politics better than others.”
