Patna, Nov 16 (PTI) Bihar Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh on Saturday claimed that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s repeated assertions that he was with the NDA for good was an indication that he might be “heading somewhere”.
Singh was addressing a press conference at Sadaqat Ashram, the BPCC headquarters, when his attention was drawn to Kumar’s speech a day ago at a function in Jamui attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Kumar had termed his two short-lived alliances with the Mahagathbandhan, the INDIA bloc’s Bihar prototype, as a “mistake” he was determined “never to repeat”.
The Congress leader said, “As per our estimate, this is the 14th time, since returning to the NDA in January this year that Nitish Kumar has made a statement to the effect.” “An explanation (safai) for one’s past action may be warranted one, two or three times. But when you do so 14 times, it only leads to suspicion. So people have begun to wonder whether the CM is planning yet another turnaround,” he added.
Asked whether he was hinting at the possibility of Kumar’s return to Mahagathbandhan, Singh cryptically remarked, “I do not know if he will come with us. But he definitely seems to be heading somewhere (kahin to jaa rahe hain).” The former Union minister also took exception to the Prime Minister’s “two visits in a week” to Bihar, which he saw as an attempt to “canvassing for assembly polls in adjoining Jharkhand, with the Election Commission happily being taken for a ride”.
“The PM’s visit to Darbhanga was on a day when votes were being cast in Jharkhand. His speech in Darbhanga, where he laid foundation stone of AIIMS after falsely claiming last year that the hospital had already been established, was being telecast live,” the Congress leader pointed out.
“At least the EC should have ensured that his speech was not telecast in Jharkhand on a polling day. Our delegation headed by AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh has already registered a protest with the poll panel,” he added. PTI ANW NAC ACD
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