Kushwaha takes on Nitish, pitches for quota in pvt sector

New Delhi, Sep 25: Hitting out at Nitish Kumar, Union minister Upendra Kushwaha today described the Bihar chief minister as the "most selfish" leader of the century whose "words never match his deeds".

"Nitish Kumar must be the century's most selfish leader. Among the leaders whose words don't match their deeds, Nitish tops the chart. He can go to any extent for the sake of preserving his image," the Minister of the State in the HRD Ministry said. He accused the JD(U)-RJD coalition of "facilitating" the bail of former Siwan MP Shahabuddin.

Kushwaha also took a dig at Nitish saying he was "intoxicated" by the idea of prohibition. "After fighting to ensure his (Shahabuddin) jail, he (Nitish) helped the same person in getting bail after coming to power. It's only after public uproar they moved the Supreme Court against it," Kushwaha said, in an obvious reference to the gangster-turned-politician.

The Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) chief was addressing the party's national convention here after being re-elected as its president, where he also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take tough action against terrorism referring to the Uri attack.

RLSP also passed a political resolution where it vowed to fight for reservations in the private sector and in the media. Kushwaha said before according reservation status to any community, the category has to be broadened. He also accused Samajwadi Party and RJD of having "betrayed" the socialist cause and entrenching dynastic politics. They work only for "their families", he said.

"A champion of social justice recently accused the Centre of abolishing reservation in the posts of associate professors at Central Universities. But when did they even provide it? We will fight for it when Kushwahas get power at the Centre," he said.

PTI