The Twitter war between Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad intensified on Thursday when Mr. Kumar shot off a tweet poking fun at the RJD chief. Mr. Kumar said he would continue to post from time to time but “doesn’t know about others”.
“Corruption is etiquette. Action against it injustice,” tweeted Mr. Kumar in an apparent taunt to the RJD chief who, along with his family members, is facing corruption charges.
On Wednesday, he tweeted: “Concern for life, concern for riches are the biggest form of patriotism.”
Mr. Prasad hit back at Mr. Kumar in poetic lines, raising a question on the Chief Minister’s political credibility and integrity.
“Depositing a fine of ₹20,000 for plagiarism of a thesis, shelving the file of a murder case through power, allowing 40 scams under his nose, propagating morality and fake persona — Lalu wants to know his name.”
In August, the Delhi High Court dismissed Mr. Kumar’s plea to delete his name as a defendant from a lawsuit on copyright violation filed by a former student of Jawaharlal Nehru University, and imposed a fine of ₹20,000 on him.
‘Face Assembly’
The RJD chief tweeted again on Thursday: “In Bihar, there is one more ‘dustbin’ scam of crores of rupees. Who has sealed the lips of fake honest Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister? ... Speak on your black scams too.”
On Wednesday, responding to Mr. Kumar’s tweet, Mr. Prasad shot off five tweets in a series.
His younger son and former Deputy Chief Minister, Tejashwi Yadav, joined the war. “About which mall is he talking? He is protecting people involved in the Srijan scam. He does not have the guts to come to the Assembly and becomes a silent monk when questions are raised over his functioning.”
Meanwhile, the Opposition legislators created noisy scenes in the Assembly for the fourth consecutive day over the deteriorating law and order situation.
The protesting MLAs also raised questions over an alleged scam in which thousands of tonnes of paddy were transported on motorcycles for three years since 2011-12.
