On the first day of his Sampark Yatra (contact tour) on Thursday, former chief minister Nitish Kumar slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP for taking the help of National Congress Party for winning the vote of confidence in Maharashtra.
“In the run up to Maharashtra Assembly polls, Mr. Modi called the NCP ‘Bhrastacharwadi Congress Party’,” said Mr. Kumar while addressing some 2,500 party workers in Bettiah. “They owe an explanation for taking NCP’s support. It is clear who is attached to power,” Mr. Kumar added.
The Janata Dal (United) leader defended his party’s alliance with the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal and said “it was justified to defeat the BJP.”
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Playing audio recordings, Mr. Kumar took Mr. Modi to task for not fulfilling his promises on according special status to Bihar and on bringing back ‘black money” into the country. He cautioned the people of Bihar against falling into the BJP trap in the run-up to the Assembly polls next year.
Along with the Modi tapes, Mr. Kumar also played old audio clips of BJP leader Rajnath Singh and yoga guru Ramdeo Baba promising “the moon” to the people of Bihar in the campaign for Lok Sabha polls.
“Instead of special status, the Centre has cut allocation for Bihar under the Indira Awas Yojana, MGNREGA and Prime Minister Gramin Sadak Yojna,” he said.
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On appointing leaders from Bihar in the Union Council of Ministers, Mr. Kumar said most of these leaders were Ministers of State and “everybody knows a MOS gets work only on the sweet will of the Cabinet Minister.”
Launching his party’s campaign for the Assembly polls, Mr. Kumar commented on Mr. Modi’s much written Acche Din and Swachch Bharat campaigns. “Someone was saying that India may not become clean but the prices of brooms have gone up. First you place the garbage and then you sweep it for a photo-op,” mocked Mr. Kumar.