Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday took a jibe at SP chief Mulayam Singh, asking: “Is he vice-chancellor of the university of secularism? … and, are we just research scholars?” Mr. Kumar’s remarks came in response to a question in a TV channel’s poll programme. “Was I asking for a certificate of secularism from him?.. I don’t need a certificate of secularism from anyone… I come from the school of JP [Jaiprakash Narayan] and Lohia [Ram Manohar Lohia],” added Mr. Kumar when asked about the failure of the ‘grand alliance’ and the ‘janata parivar.’
In June, altogether six constituents of the erstwhile ‘janata parivar,’ formed the ‘grand alliance’ to take on the BJP and its partners in the coming Assembly elections. But Mr. Kumar and Mr. Prasad reportedly went ahead with the seat-sharing arrangement without informing the SP leader. They kept 100 seats each to themselves and spared 40 for the Congress. Later, Mr. Prasad agreed to give five seats to the SP.
This irked the SP which parted ways with the ‘grand alliance’ on September 3. While making an exit, Mr. Singh questioned Mr. Kumar’s secular credentials. “How can he claim to be secular?...who is secular?...people who ran the government with the BJP’s support for eight years? They have become secular all of a sudden,” he had said.
