Sitting with Congress in lust for power: Amit Shah's dig at Nitish Kumar

Patna, Oct 11: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday took an apparent dig at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar saying those who claim to be followers of socialist icon Jayaprakash Narayan, popularly called JP, are sitting with the Congress in their "lust for power".

"I ask people of Bihar - leaders who achieved heights through the JP movement are sitting in Congress' lap for power; are you with them?" Amit Shah said.

"In 1973, the then government in Gujarat publicly gave the Government the task of raising funds, due to which whole scale corruption started. Against this, the students of Gujarat under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan made a strong movement and changed the government in Gujarat," Shah said.

"After that there was an agitation in Bihar and witnessing the rally at Gandhi Maidan in Bihar, left the then Prime Minister worried. After this, Emergency was declared and along with Jayaprakash Narayan, many Opposition leaders were imprisoned. The then Prime Minister believed that by putting in jail leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan, Morarji Desai, L.K. Advani and Atal Behari Vajpayee would be demoralised, Shah added.

"When in the Quit India Movement of 1942, jails in Hazaribagh were not able to stop Jaiprakash, the torture of the then Prime Minister also could not even stop him.

Shah said that Jayaprakash Narayan formed the first non-Congress government in the country by uniting the entire opposition against the corrupt and unjust government that imposed Emergency. JP set an excellent example of change in front of the country by staying out of power.