BJP national spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain on Thursday asked Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) national president Nitish Kumar to break his silence over the VVIP chopper deal allegedly involving Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
“When Kumar routinely speaks on all national issues, it is baffling that he has chosen to keep mum on the VVIP chopper scam in which the name of Sonia Gandhi has surfaced in the verdict by an Italian court regarding kickback,” Mr. Hussain said and expressed surprise that the chief minister was shying away from speaking on the issue.
“An Italian court has pointed accusing fingers at the Congress president in the VVIP chopper scam, which is being talked about more than the Bofors scandal decades ago... The Bihar chief minister should break his silence on the issue involving his alliance partner in the state government,” he told reporters.
Mr. Kumar, he said, should know that neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor BJP had anything to do with the trial in the case about the kickback given to some persons in the country to clinch the VVIP chopper deal by AugustaWestland Company during the UPA rule.
“You (Nitish Kumar) have been known to be a crusader against corruption all your life and so you have to speak out against the VVIP chopper scam allegedly involving the Congress president,” Mr. Hussain said.
He hit out against Mr. Kumar for his comment on ‘ Sangh-mukt Bharat ’ by promising to cobble up largest possible unity of opposition parties and said the people of Bihar had not given landslide mandate to him and his Grand Alliance government was to free India from crime, and corruption and bring in development.
“The Bihar chief minister should concentrate on governance issues than making the country ‘ Sangh-mukt ’ with which he was associated for 17 years,” he said.
Mr. Hussain, however, backed the Grand Alliance government in enforcing total prohibition in Bihar and demanded ban on sale and consumption of tobacco products with the same vigour.
He urged other states, including the BJP-ruled ones, to enforce total prohibition in the larger public interest, but said the decision should be left to the state governments.
Mr. Hussain also exuded confidence that BJP would fare well at the election in West Bengal,Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
