Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will not forge any electoral alliance with embattled Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s JDU ever again.
Addressing a rally in Bihar’s West Champaran, Shah said, “BJP’s door for Nitish Kumar has been closed forever.”
Shah’s statement reflects growing anger against Kumar who contested the last Assembly elections as a BJP ally but walked out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to stitch a coalition with rival Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress and some other parties.
Launching an attack on Kumar, Shah sought to describe him as an opportunist. “Aaya Ram, gaya Ram behaviour will no longer going to help him,” he told a cheering crowd.
Shah said that the BJP decided to make Kumar the CM again despite securing more seats than the Janata Dal (United). “But he is a slave of his habits. In August, he joined hands with forces who have been opposing NDA from the beginning,” he said.
Taking a strong view of the deteriorating law and order situation in Bihar, the Union home minister said that Kumar has brought back ‘Jungle Raj’ – a term associated with Lalu Prasad’s rule during the 90s when the state saw widespread crimes.
“Nitish has promised to make Lalu’s son CM. RJD MLAs are continuously demanding this. Tejashwi’s arrival will bring the jungle raj in a true sense to Bihar. The welfare of Bihar cannot be achieved under Lalu’s leadership,” he declared.
Speaking about this year’s Union budget, Shah said, “PM Modi gave three (highway) projects worth ₹15,000 crores to Bihar – Betia-Patna-Tamkuhi, Gorakhpur to Siligudi, and Betia-Patna Highway. But Nitish did not provide land under pressure from Lalu Yadav. No land was given for the airport in Raxaul.”
“The alliance of RJD and JD (U) in Bihar is like water and oil. The two never met. JD (U) is water and RJD is the oil and we can see only oil everywhere,” the BJP leader said.