Rahul Gandhi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge's residence, in New Delhi just before Nitish's return to the BJP-led NDA fold.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday lashed out at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar after breaking ranks, saying he is "not needed here" as the responsibility of providing social justice lies with the Grand Alliance.
Addressing a public meeting in Bihar's Purnia as part of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, he refused to give Nitish the credit of conducting caste census in Bihar, claiming that he had told Kumar in no uncertain terms that the exercise needed to be held. He alleged Nitish takes u-turns whenever he is under pressure.
The Purnia rally, which was attended by CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, came exactly a year after he concluded his Kanyakumari to Kashmir walkathon 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' in Srinagar. RJD's Tejashwi Yadav could not attend the rally as he had to appear before the Enforcement Directorate.
"I clearly told Nitish-ji that look, you will have to conduct a caste census in Bihar, we will not give you exemption and along with RJD, we put pressure on Nitish-ji. Later, the BJP also put pressure from the other side as it did not want it. The BJP wants you to be distracted...from the issue of social justice. Nitish-ji got stuck in the middle. Then the BJP gave him a way out and Nitish-ji went on that path," he said.
"The responsibility of providing social justice lies with our alliance in Bihar, there is no need for Nitish-ji here. We will do our work here, together our alliance will do whatever has to be done here. This is a matter of social justice," he said.
This is the first time Rahul has spoken about Nitish switching sides by snapping ties with the Grand Alliance once again on Sunday.
With Nitish switching sides at least four times in the past decade, Rahul also shared a "joke about Nitish" doing rounds, which he said former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel told him, to highlight the political somersaults of the JD(U) president in quick succession.
He said Nitish had forgotten his muffler after the oath taking ceremony and returned to the Raj Bhavan where a surprised Governor asked him, "this fast?"
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who was scheduled to speak at the rally, could not reach Purnia, as his flight failed to land at the airport due to low visibility.
Kharge, who addressed the rally through a video message, also referred to Nitish saying, "it has to be said with great sadness that today the politics of opportunism and greed has dominated this land. The identity of Bihar, which used to give light to the world, has now become the political laboratory of Ayaram-Gayaram."
"But we will not waver due to such small reasons. Whether anyone stays or goes, we are not going to give up our principles. The souls of Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Rajendra Babu and Maulana Azad are in us. We will fight till our last breath to maintain them," he said.
"Congress did not betray anyone. There was no lack of respect for anyone. When the Grand Alliance government tried to speed up the development journey that had been stalled for years, Modi and Shah were hurt and did not like it. They played with the honour and self-respect of Bihar," Kharge added.