BJP attacks Nitish for new-found love for Congress

Patna, June 19: BJP today mounted a frontal attack on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for his "sudden love" for Congress and said that the day was not far off when JD(U) leaders, including Kumar, would raise slogans for Rahul Gandhi.

"Having been a symbol of anti-Congressism all his life, the chief minister has suddenly found love for Congress....the day is not far off when JD(U) leaders, including the chief minister, will start singing paeans for Rahul Gandhi and raise slogans for making him prime minister," former deputy chief minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi told reporters.

"It is there for everybody to see that Kumar has jettisoned his political ideology to sit on the lap of Congress in lieu of its four MLAs' support to the JD(U) government for survival on day-to-day basis," he said.

Socialist leaders like Ram Manohar Lohia and Karpuri Thakur, who abhorred Congress during their political life, must be shedding tears in the heaven after finding their pupil Kumar succumbing to the temptation of power to align with the Congress for the sake of four MLAs, Modi said.

For disrespecting the landslide mandate to the NDA government in 2010 assembly polls, the chief minister would soon realise the price he would have to pay both in the next Lok Sabha and assembly polls, he said.

People would not pardon Kumar because of this "unpricipled" and "unholy" alliance with the Congress and taking support of some independents to survive in power, Modi said adding that he must learn from the lessons his erstwhile colleague and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad had to pay for making similar mistakes.

PTI