BJP takes dig at Nitish for not campaigning in Jharkhand

Patna, Dec 2: Taking a dig at Nitish Kumar, the BJP on Tuesday said the JD(U) leader "opted out" from campaigning for his party leaders for the Jharkhand Assembly elections as he was aware that he won't be able to stop the saffron party's surge to power in the state.

In a tirade against Kumar, former

Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi wondered why his former senior ministerial colleague had opted out from campaigning for JD(U) candidates in the ongoing Assembly polls in Jharkhand.

"It was because Kumar knew it fully well that he won't be able to stop the saffron party's surge to power," Modi said.

"The senior JD(U) leader, who claims to be popular with the masses in Bihar, should have tested political waters in Jharkhand where there is a sizable presence of Bihari people and campaigned for his party candidates, but it seems he knows the ground reality as was the case in Assembly polls in Delhi and Haryana over past year," he added.

Taking pot shots at the grand alliance of erstwhile constituents of 'Janata Parivar' which was formed to take on BJP at the national level, Modi said the experiment seems to have failed in Jharkhand where they are contesting the Assembly polls separately and the JD(U) and RJD were taking each other on several Assembly seats.

Claiming that a wave in favour of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sweeping through Jharkhand too, Modi exuded confidence that BJP will form the next government in the state.

PTI