Nitish must blame himself for crisis: Venkaiah

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu has said the Narendra Modi government has no role in the political crisis in Bihar.  

At a press conference here on Sunday, he said the crisis was the result of a war within the ruling Janata Dal (United), but the party’s leadership needlessly blamed the Central government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Who asked Nitish Kumar to resign as Chief Minister and promote Jitan Ram Manjhi to the post? And, why is he asking Mr. Manjhi to resign now?” 

He said the JD(U) enacted a drama by making a Dalit the Chief Minister and now paraded its MLAs against him in the Raj Bhavan and the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Where was the need for it when the Assembly, which was supposed to elect the Leader of the House, was convened to meet 12 days ago? The party also staked claim to form a government and, within days, wanted to be recognised as the main Opposition after a court order staying Mr. Kumar’s election as JD(U) leader in the House.

Mr. Naidu said the coming together of the ‘corrupt, communal, communist and casteist forces’ posed a challenge to the Bharatiya Janata Party, as was evident in the recent Delhi Assembly polls.

‘Setback to BJP’

About 22 per cent vote of the Congress, the BSP, the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the communist parties was transferred to the Aam Aadmi Party.

The defeat undoubtedly amounted to a setback to the BJP, which he said committed the mistake of not going for the Assembly polls immediately after the Lok Sabha elections last year, he said. 

The lesson for the BJP from the Delhi polls was that it must be prepared for a fight against a united Opposition, instead of a multi-cornered contest as in the past, the Union Minister said.