NEW DELHI: A day after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar dumped the INDIA alliance to join hands with the BJP, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday slammed the JD (U) chief for his flip flops and asserted that the Opposition alliance will only benefit from it.
Speaking to the media, Pawar said that the public would teach Kumar a lesson in the future. “Whatever happened in Patna, such a situation was never seen before in such a short period... I remember it was Nitish Kumar who had called all the non-BJP parties to Patna... His role was also similar but what happened in the last 10-15 days is that he left this ideology and today he joined the BJP and formed the government,” said Pawar.
The NCP stalwart added that he was clueless about Nitish’s moves. “In the last 10 days, it did not seem that he would take such a step. On the contrary, he was playing a role against the BJP. Don’t know what happened suddenly, but the public will definitely teach him a lesson for his role in the future,” said Pawar.
On Sunday, Nitish Kumar resigned as the Chief Minister of Bihar, saying “things were not working well” for him in the grand alliance and the opposition bloc INDIA, and formed a new government with the BJP, which he had quit less than 18 months ago.
Echoing Pawar’s views, Kejriwal said that Nitish Kumar did not do the right thing by exiting the INDIA bloc, and his conduct was not good for democracy. The AAP leader further asserted that Kumar’s exit will not hurt the Opposition bloc, rather it will benefit them.
“I feel that he should not have left. He has done wrong. Such a conduct is not good for democracy. What I understand is that his exit will cause losses for the NDA in Bihar, instead of benefiting them. INDIA bloc will benefit,” he told the media.
Kumar’s latest crossover, his fifth in a little over a decade, is being seen as a big setback for the opposition unity.