Munger (Bihar)/Mumbai: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday took a dig at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar calling him a “Paltu babu” who was “hoodwinking” RJD supremo Lalu Prasad amid an escalating political slugfest over the recent opposition conclave to stitch an anti-BJP front for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
As Shah accused opposition leaders, who had attended the Patna meeting, of being involved in scams worth over Rs 20 lakh crore and said leaders who ditched the BJP-led NDA must be “punished”, NCP chief Sharad Pawar claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become “restless” after the conclave. Pawar said the next meeting of opposition leaders will be held at Bengaluru on July 13-14.
Shah, who visited Bihar for the first time after the meeting of leaders of 16 opposition parties in Patna on June 23, also said the Congress has been trying to launch Rahul Gandhi as a “mass leader” for the last 20 years but they have failed. “The electorate has full faith in Modi ji,” said the senior BJP leader who last visited Bihar nearly three months ago.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, who is also the DMK President, while hitting out at Modi for pushing for implementing the Uniform Civil Code(UCC) alleged that the Patna meeting has “caused fear in the prime minister.”
Taking on Chief Minister Kumar who hosted the Patna meeting, Shah said people of Bihar will give a “befitting reply to corrupt leaders” in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
“Paltu babu Nitish Kumar was asking what BJP has done in the last nine years (of the NDA government at the Centre)…Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji has done a lot for the overall growth of the country… Nitish always changes his alliance partners and is simply misleading (RJD chief Lalu Prasad) Lalu ji. He is not trustworthy,” he said addressing a mega rally at Lakhisarai in Munger organised by the BJP. The Munger Lok Sabha seat is currently held by Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias ‘Lalan’, the national president of Kumar’s JD(U).
Taking potshots at Kumar, Shah said “such a person who keeps switching sides cannot be entrusted with running Bihar”.
“Nitish Kumar has been harbouring Prime Ministerial ambitions. But the fact is, he is not going to become the Prime Minister and is also unwilling to leave his chair. He is only hoodwinking (‘murkh bana rahe hain’) Lalu ji”, said Shah. The allusion was to Kumar and Prasad joining hands and the promise said to be made by the JD(U) chief that the latter’s son Tejashwi Yadav, currently the Deputy CM, will “lead” the charge when the state faces its next assembly polls.
In a reference to Kumar who dumped the BJP last year to form the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ government in Bihar, Shah said leaders who ditched the National Democratic Alliance(NDA) must be “punished”. He also questioned the chief minister’s track record and said, “Nitish babu must explain what he has done for Bihar”.
“Bihar has always raised its voice against corruption. Opposition leaders who attended the June 23 meeting in Patna are involved in scams worth over Rs 20 lakh crore…Bihar will give a befitting reply to corrupt leaders in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.”
“In 2024, the people of Bihar will have to make a choice between Narendra Modi and Rahul baba whom the Congress party has tried to launch 20 times, without success”.
Shah also alleged that the law and order situation in Bihar was “worsening by the day under the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ government.
Addressing a press conference in Pune, Sharad Pawar said the Centre should first introduce reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Legislative Assemblies before talking about the implementation of the UCC.
“A meeting of 16 opposition parties took place in Patna recently. When the meeting took place, the PM was in America. It seems that after he got the details about the meeting, his restlessness increased and he started making personal attacks. He said it was a photo session.”
Referring to Modi’s remarks on the UCC, Stalin accused him of attempting to completely ‘disrupt the law and order situation’ and cause ‘religious violence.’
The prime minister was hence thinking of winning the 2024 Lok Sabha polls by fanning communal sentiments and creating confusion in the country, the DMK chief alleged at an event in Chennai.
“I am telling you categorically, people are ready to teach a fitting lesson to the BJP in the upcoming LS polls; you (people) should be prepared and be resolute (to trounce the BJP at the hustings).”
BJP president J P Nadda said the culture of politics has changed in the country and that now there is a danger to those who were running and flourishing dynasties in the name of parties.
He said Modi took India from dynasty politics to the politics of development.
“If you vote for RJD, you vote for Lalu’s family, if you vote for Samajwadi Party, you vote for Akhilesh’s family and his children, if you vote for Uddhav Thackeray Shiv Sena, you vote for Uddhav Thackeray’s family, if you vote for NCP then you vote for Sharad Pawar’s family to prosper, if you vote for Mamata’s party then you vote to allow Mamata and her nephew Abhishek to do corruption, if you vote for YSR Congress party, then you vote for Jagan Reddy’s family, but if you vote for Modi, you vote for the country and your children,” Nadda told a rally in Bharatpur in Rajasthan.
