Kicking off his party’s mission 185+ for Bihar, Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah on Friday addressed an impressive rally here of extremely backward castes [EBC] on the birth anniversary of Karpoori Thakur, socialist icon and former State Chief Minister .
He accused the Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar of being “arrogant and over-ambitious,” and declared that the BJP would form the next government in Bihar and make it the number one State. The Assembly elections in the State for 243 seats are due in November.
Mr. Shah’s two-day visit to Bihar is the first after he became the BJP president. Later, he addressed thousands of block level party workers and members of booth committees, and asked them to connect with people and speed up the party membership drive. “In 17 years of alliance with the BJP, Nitish Kumar became arrogant and over-ambitious. He even started dreaming of becoming Prime Minister and snapped ties with the BJP,” said Mr. Shah. .
Referring to RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and the Congress, Mr. Shah said Nitish Kumar had fought them for years to come to power. But, now, “he has joined hands with them to come to power again … The BJP had supported Nitish Kumar so that Lalu Prasad and the Congress would not come to power but this is the new face of Nitish Kumar. He wants to become Chief Minister again with Lalu Prasad in alliance.”
Mr. Kumar, however, would not be able to realise his dream as the people of Bihar had made up their mind to give the BJP, which was committed to making it the number one State, a chance, Mr. Shah said. ““Prime Minister Narendra Modi wishes to develop eastern States like Bihar and West Bengal for the development of the country. For this, you have to give the BJP a majority in the State,” he added.
Significantly, the BJP president’s attack on Mr. Kumar comes at a time when the JD (U) is facing intra-party rivalry. “Bereft of the BJP, Nitish Kumar’s politics is crumbling. It was only in the company of the BJP that he could reach the pinnacle of his political career, as Union Minister, Chief Minister of Bihar and leader of good governance,” said BJP leader and Union Minister Ravishankar Prasad.