PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday chose to distance himself from Rahul Gandhi's conviction by a Surat court in the Modi surname case stating that he does not comment on a sub judiced matter.
Nitish told newspersons, “Listen one thing, you all know that I don't speak about matters pending in a court. Even if it was in the stage of FIR, I prefer not to speak or make any comments. Others might express their views but I prefer not to comment," he said.
It may be noted that Nitish had formed the grand alliance government, of which Congress is an ally, last August.
On building a formidable opposition, Nitish said that he is waiting for a response from the Congress party. He said that he had already held two rounds of discussions with the opposition parties as several regional parties are in favour of a united Opposition challenging the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
“We are waiting. If Congress agrees, more parties will jump into the opposition bandwagon,” he said.
Earlier too, Nitish has appealed to senior Congress leaders including Salman Khurshid during his visit to the state capital to persuade their party’s top leadership to take initiative in this regard.
“I want as many Opposition parties as possible coming on a single platform so that we can contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election with confidence,” he added.
Reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comment that all corrupt people were coming on the same platform, Nitish said that it was his habit to speak in such a manner. He said that he had nothing to do with it. Since he (Modi) has controlled the media, he is getting applause from it, CM added.
Sharpening his attack on Modi, Nitish said that everybody is aware of what is happening in the country now. Nitish Kumar recalled that he used to praise former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee`s tenure since the latter worked in the interests of both Hindus and Muslims.
“All BJP leaders are busy praising themselves,” he said.