Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday took a dig at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar calling him a “Paltu babu” who was “hoodwinking” RJD supremo Lalu Prasad amid an escalating political slugfest over the recent opposition conclave to stitch an anti-BJP front for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
As Shah accused opposition leaders, who had attended the Patna meeting, of being involved in scams worth over Rs 20 lakh crore and said leaders who ditched the BJP-led NDA must be “punished”, NCP chief Sharad Pawar claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become “restless” after the conclave. Pawar said the next meeting of opposition leaders will be held in Bengaluru on July 13-14.
Shah, who visited Bihar for the first time after the meeting of leaders of 16 opposition parties in Patna on June 23, also said the Congress has been trying to launch Rahul Gandhi as a “mass leader” for the last 20 years but they have failed. “The electorate has full faith in Modi ji,” said the senior BJP leader who last visited Bihar nearly three months ago.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, who is also the DMK President, while hitting out at Modi for pushing for implementing the Uniform Civil Code(UCC) alleged that the Patna meeting has “caused fear in the prime minister.” Taking on Chief Minister Kumar who hosted the Patna meeting, Shah said people of Bihar will give a “befitting reply to corrupt leaders” in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
“Paltu babu Nitish Kumar was asking what BJP has done in the last nine years (of the NDA government at the Centre)…Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji has done a lot for the overall growth of the country… Nitish always changes his alliance partners and is simply misleading (RJD chief Lalu Prasad) Lalu ji. He is not trustworthy,” he said addressing a mega rally at Lakhisarai in Munger organised by the BJP. The Munger Lok Sabha seat is currently held by Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias ‘Lalan’, the national president of Kumar’s JD(U).
Taking potshots at Kumar, Shah said “such a person who keeps switching sides cannot be entrusted with running Bihar”.
“Nitish Kumar has been harbouring Prime Ministerial ambitions. But the fact is, he is not going to become the Prime Minister and is also unwilling to leave his chair. He is only hoodwinking (‘murkh bana rahe hain’) Lalu ji”, said Shah. The allusion was to Kumar and Prasad joining hands and the promise said to be made by the JD(U) chief that the latter’s son Tejashwi Yadav, currently the Deputy CM, will “lead” the charge when the state faces its next assembly polls.
In a reference to Kumar who dumped the BJP last year to form the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ government in Bihar, Shah said leaders who ditched the National Democratic Alliance(NDA) must be “punished”. He also questioned the chief minister’s track record and said, “Nitish babu must explain what he has done for Bihar”.
With inputs from News18