Patna, Jun 24 (PTI) Bihar BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal and JD(U) parliamentary board chief Upendra Kushwaha, whose mutual dislike has often caused their parties’ alliance to teeter, on Friday engaged in a fresh war of words.
The trigger came in the form of a Facebook post from Jaiswal, who keeps rankling JD(U) by picking holes in the state’s administration, which is viewed by the party of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as an affront to their leader.
In his Facebook post, however, Jaiswal targeted only Kushwaha, whom he did not mention by name though references to “netaji” and his “demonstrations across the state for land for Kendriya Vidyalaya schools”, left little room for doubt.
Kushwaha, who was then the Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development, had launched the stir before quitting the NDA a few months ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
“Netaji made his followers stage protests in every district, and achieved success for himself,” concluded Jaiswal in a veiled reference to Kushwaha merging his Rashtriya Lok Samata Party with JD(U) which earned him a top party post and membership of the legislative council.
Kushwaha, who had last week compared Jaiswal to a whining kid when the BJP leader expressed vexation over vandalisation of his house by an anti-Agnipath mob, took the bait.
“Brother, what fault do you find with the stir that I launched?” asked Kushwaha replying to the post by Jaiswal who, he felt, was “in need of training about role of a member of the ruling coalition vis-a-vis those in the opposition”.
Kushwaha also reminded Jaiswal that he did not owe his success in politics to “anukampa” (mercy), a snide reference to the BJP leader’s father late Madan Jaiswal having been a multiple term party MP.
Quarrels between the two leaders began making headlines earlier this year when they fought over alleged belittling of Emperor Asoka by a playwright perceived to be close to BJP.
The third century BC ruler has come to be regarded as a cultural icon for the OBCs, especially the numerically powerful Kushwahas. PTI NAC ACD ACD
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