Cong lashes out at Nitish over Gujarat flood aid row

Congress today lashed out at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the Gujarat flood aid row, saying after running a coalition government with BJP's support for four years, he could not "wash off the sin" of joining hands with "communal forces" by returning the relief money.

Congress today lashed out at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the Gujarat flood aid row, saying after running a coalition government with BJP's support for four years, he could not "wash off the sin" of joining hands with "communal forces" by returning the relief money.

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"If he has realised the folly of joining hands with communal forces, he should have snapped ties mmediately....But after heading the government for four years and then returning Rs five crore will not wash off the sin (of joining communal forces)," Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said at a press conference.

To a query whether Kumar's returning the money to the Narendra Modi government had hurt the federal system of the country, Jaiswal said the question did not arise at all.

"If any CM gets close to a party and then wants to distance himself on the ground of it being communal, this is not the way to keep a distance after four years of rule.

"If he (Kumar) realises that he should not have made the alliance, and if it was a mistake then he should have broken the alliance. But returning Rs 5 crore is not repentance," he said.