PATNA, Jan 31: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday said Rahul Gandhi’s claim that the caste survey in the state was conducted under pressure from the Congress was “nonsensical”.
Talking to reporters three days after he dumped the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ in which the Congress is a constituent, and returned to the BJP-led NDA, Kumar also dismissed RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav’s claim that he had made Bihar CM work towards fulfilling the 10 lakh job promise.
The JD (U) president asserted that he did not like the nomenclature of the opposition bloc INDIA.
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“His (Rahul) claim that the caste survey in the state was done under pressure from the Congress is nonsensical. Everybody knows that the initiative was taken by me only. Now, people are taking credit,” Kumar said.
Addressing a public rally in Purnea district as part of his ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’, Gandhi had on Tuesday claimed that Kumar was feeling trapped after getting a caste survey conducted under pressure from the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ partners and the BJP “provided him with a way out”.
The ‘Mahagathbandhan’ government in Bihar had, in October last year, released findings of its much-awaited caste survey, which revealed that Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) constitute a whopping 63 per cent of the state’s total population.
Commenting on the opposition bloc INDIA, Kumar said, “They were not doing anything… not even discussing about seat sharing. Frankly speaking, the name (INDIA) given to this alliance was not my choice at all. They decided on their own. Now, I have come back here (NDA). There is no question of going anywhere else”.
Asked about his views on the Enforcement Directorate’s action against Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and RJD leaders, the JD(U) supremo said, “The investigation agency is doing its work. There were charges against them…and the ED is investigating those cases.”
Enforcement Directorate officials on Wednesday reached Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren’s residence in Ranchi to question him in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam.
The central agency had on Tuesday questioned RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav for over eight hours in connection with its money laundering probe into an alleged land-for-jobs scam.
His father and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad was also questioned by the probe agency’s sleuths for over nine hours on Monday in connection with the same case.
On Tejashwi’s claim that he had made Bihar CM work towards fulfilling the 10 lakh job promise, Kumar said, “This is also nonsensical. He is simply trying to take credit. It’s like he is patting his own back. People know what they (RJD) have done. Everybody knows about the deteriorating law and order situation in the state during the RJD’s regime.”
In response to Kumar’s comment, RJD leader and party’s Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha claimed, “Nitish Kumar had come to us fearing that the BJP could poach JD(U)’s legislators. He (Nitish) sought RJD’s support… Tejashwi Yadav wasn’t ready at that time. He (Tejashwi) said we would support from outside”.
Jha also asserted, “However, when Tejashwi agreed to extend support, he clearly said that providing jobs would be his first priority.”
The RJD leader said the party will “wait for 40 days to see whether the current government in the state is acting on commitments made by the previous grand alliance dispensation”.
Kumar also accused the RJD of doing nothing during its rule in the state earlier.
“The developmental work started in the state when I became the chief minister,” he added. (PTI)
