PATNA: The verbal duel is unabated between Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his party’s parliamentary board chairman Upendra Kushwaha. The JD-U leaders sharpened their attacks on Friday. At a hurriedly called press conference, Kushwaha made his intentions clear that he was not going to leave the JD-U even if Nitish or any other senior party leader asked him to do so. At the same time, he levelled serious allegations against Nitish.
The CM in the meantime invited Kushwaha for discussions for redressing his grievances. He said JD-U had nothing to do with Kushwaha’s outbursts against him and other party leaders. He, however, refuted Kushwaha’s claim that the JD-U was getting weak. “It hardly matters for the party who is coming and who is going out,” Nitish said.
Kushwaha had alleged that Nitish had not called him even for five minutes for discussions on the party issues even as he was surrounded by some party leaders “for 29 out of 30 days.” “I am ready to face any action if I am telling a lie. “Wo beta ki kasam khakar kah de ki hum jhooth bol rahen hain (ask him to swear in his son’s name that I am lying),” he asserted.
Kushwaha said that he was ready to meet Nitish for a discussion on issues related to the party. “I am ready to meet him any day),” Kushwaha said. He also demanded that the national executive meeting of the party should be convened immediately so that he could tell how the party had weakened. He also made it clear that he would not quit the party.
Kushwaha claimed that it was Nitish who had first invited him for discussion through the media when there was no need for it. “But now he accuses me of raising the party issues in the media,” he said. Both senior JD-U leaders have had sharp exchanges in the last few days, with CM Nitish asking Kushwaha to leave the party. On the other hand, state Congress chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh claimed that Kushwaha would remain with JD-U.
Equations worsen
January 8
JD-U’s Parl board chief Upendra Kushwaha floats the idea of additional deputy CM in the grand alliance govt
January 9
Nitish turns it down, saying none had given a thought to such an idea. In the earlier JD-U-BJP alliance, there were 2 Dy CMs
January 14
Kushwaha attacks RJD education minister for his remarks against Ramcharitmanas
January 25
Nitish asks Kushwaha to quit JD-U if he felt uneasy
January 22
Pictures of Kushwaha meeting three BJP leaders in AIIMS-Delhi go viral on social media
January 15
Kushwaha claims several top JD-U leaders in touch with BJP