Nitish says, Nobody can beat Modi in 2019; slams Congress

Agencies
August 1, 2017

Patna, Aug 1: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday tore into Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, insisting continuing in the Grand Alliance would have amounted to "compromising with corruption".

Having embraced the BJP after a four-year hiatus, Nitish claimed there would be "no challenge" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2019 general elections.

He also said the proposal for a reunion had come from the "highest level" in the BJP which he accepted as "going got impossible" in the Grand Alliance due to accusations of corruption against his then deputy Tejashwi Yadav.

"There were corruption charges and cases were filed by the CBI (against Lalu Prasad and family). I had only told them to come out with proper answers. Instead, they made fun of me saying whether I was a CBI official or the police," he told a press conference.

"Laluji did not give any clarification on corruption charges. How could I remain silent after having talked about zero tolerance to corruption? Now I have a feeling that they did not have a proper answer," Nitish said. Nitish, till recently seen as a potential challenger to Modi, said, "Nobody else (other than Modi) can occupy the PM's post. Now nobody has the strength to beat rpt beat Modi."

Asked about his future role in national politics, Nitish, also the JD(U) chief, said, "Ours is a small party which does not harbour big national aspirations." When asked about the possibility of JD(U) becoming part of NDA at the national level with ministers in the Modi government, Kumar said the JD(U) national executive will meet in Patna on August 19 and all such issues will be decided there.

He also hit back at RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for criticising him for forging an alliance with "communal" BJP.

"Making huge money hiding behind the shield of secularism ...is this secularism? ... I need no certificate of secularism from anybody," he said, questioning Lalu's secularist credentials.

Highlighting his own commitment to secularism, he said his government had given compensation to the victims of the Bhagalpur communal riots on par with those of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

On reports that senior JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav was upset over the party joining hands with BJP, he said, "It is not necessary that everybody always agrees on everything. One can have divergent views. The decision to break the Grand Alliance was taken by Bihar JD(U) at its executive meeting which I had to abide by." "JD(U) is registered with the Election Commission as a

regional party in Bihar and hence going against the decision of the state party was not possible for me," he said. Nitish mocked at Rahul Gandhi for claiming that he had an inkling that Kumar would walk out of the coalition for the last three to four months. "Then why did he (Gandhi) meet me when I had gone to Delhi and sought his intervention...to ask RJD to come clean on the accusations.

"Congress did not act on time in Assam also when AGP had come on board. It cost us the Assam polls," he said, adding "we can be a partner but not a camp follower." Even as Nitish defended his decision of aligning with the BJP, JD(U) veteran Sharad Yadav had earlier in the day voiced his disapproval, saying the mandate in the 2015 Assembly polls

was for the grand alliance. He termed the development "unpleasant" and "unfortunate".

"The situation is very unpleasant to us... It is unfortunate that the coalition has been broken. People's mandate was not for it. Bihar's 11 crore people had endorsed our alliance," Yadav told reporters outside Parliament.

The Rajya Sabha member has met a number of opposition leaders since Nitish walked out of the 3-party Grand Alliance, which also included the Congress, and joined the NDA camp.

In Lucknow, BJP chief Amit Shah dismissed allegations of his party engineering splits and defections in rival political organisations.

"In Bihar, we did not break any party. Nitish had tendered his resignation as he had decided that he will not put up with corruption. Should we have told him with a gun to his temple that stay in that alliance?," Shah told a press conference.

Nitish also slammed Lalu over his claim that he made him the chief minister despite RJD having more MLAs. "He (Lalu) arrogantly says that he made me the CM ... The people of Bihar showed him his worth in 2010 (when RJD's strength was reduced to 22)," he said. Meanwhile, in a boost to the fledgling JD(U)-NDA alliance dispensation in Bihar, the Patna High Court today dismissed two PILs challenging the formation of a new government by Nitish Kumar, saying the court's intervention was no longer required after the floor test in the state Assembly. While one public interest litigation was filed by RJD MLAs Saroj Yadav and Chandan Verma, the other was by Jitendra Kumar, a Samajwadi Party member.

Nitish had comfortably won the confidence vote 131-108 on Friday.

 

Comments

hotman
 - 
Tuesday, 1 Aug 2017

If Lalu's son has any complaint on corruption, then drop him and warn his father about the issue.

Why did resign and joined BJP which you have already divorced/left them from the earlier union.

 

Bihar people have not voted you to join BJP, you have cheated them.

Your commitment was with Lalu, you should have continued.

 

Biharis will not forget you.

 

AK
 - 
Tuesday, 1 Aug 2017

Cheaters alwz like the LIARS and the DECIEVERS...

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 18,2020

New Delhi, Jan 18: Lieutenant Governor (LG) Anil Baijal has granted the power of detaining authority to the Delhi Police Commissioner under the National Security Act (NSA), according to a notification. The NSA allows preventive detention of an individual for months if the authorities feel that the individual is a threat to the national security, and law and order, sources said.

In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (3) of section 3, read with clause (c) of Section 2 of the National Security Act, 1980, the Lt Governor is pleased to direct that during the period January 19 to April 18, the Delhi Police Commissioner may also exercise the powers of detaining authority under sub-section (2) of the section 3 of the aforesaid Act, the notification stated.

The notification has been issued on January 10 following the approval of the LG.

It comes at a time when the national capital has been witnessing a number of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

However, the Delhi Police said it is a routine order that has been issued in every quarter and has nothing to do with the current situation.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
June 10,2020

New Delhi, Jun 10: Petrol price on Wednesday was hiked by 40 paise per litre and diesel by 45 paise, the fourth straight daily increase in rates after oil PSUs ended an 82-day hiatus in rate revision. Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 73.40 per litre from Rs 73, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 71.62 a litre from Rs 71.17, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

This is the fourth daily increase in rates in a row since oil companies on Sunday restarted revising prices in line with costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus.

In four hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 2.14 per litre and diesel by Rs 2.23.

Latest petrol, diesel prices in top cities:

New Delhi: Petrol ₹73.40. Diesel ₹71.62

Gurgaon: Petrol ₹72.86. Diesel ₹64.90

Mumbai: Petrol ₹80.40. Diesel ₹70.35

Chennai: Petrol ₹77.43. Diesel ₹70.13

Hyderabad: Petrol ₹76.20. Diesel ₹70b

Bengaluru: Petrol ₹75.77. Diesel ₹68.09

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
February 29,2020

Feb 29: The "Dadi of Shaheenbagh" on Friday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not understand the pain of losing children, as speakers at an anti-CAA rally here called on protesters to maintain peace and not give in to any provocation.

Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, said that the battle is not for a day or two, but the protesters will have to be prepared to continue it for years to come.

Asma Khatoon, who has earned fame as the "Dadi of Shaheenbagh" in Delhi, asked how can a person take care of the whole country when he cannot maintain his own family.

"He would have realised how it feels to lose a child if he had his own children," she told a gathering at the Park Circus Maidan, which is being termed as the Shaheenbagh of Kolkata with women holding a sit-in for the last 53 days to protest the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, proposed nationwide NRC, and the NPR.

The death toll Delhi's communal violence has gone up to 42.

She said it is not biryani that has attracted women to the protest at Shaheen bagh while holding that such vilification campaigns will have no effect on the agitation.

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh has claimed that "uneducated men and women" are protesting at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh and Kolkata's Park Circus as they get money and biryani purchased with foreign funds.

"Home Minister Amit Shah has called 20 protesters to meet him, but I want to tell him that we are one lakh and I want him to mention the place where he wants us to go for the meeting," she said.

Tushar Gandhi said, "People should stay united and not give in to any provocation," he said.

Gandhi said that the people of West Bengal are lucky to have Mamata Banerjee as their chief minister.

"They will try to break her also and it is necessary that you continue to give her support," he said.

Gandhi claimed that no one can harm a country where its mothers and sisters come out to save it.

He claimed that the CAA is not about Hindus or Muslims, but will really affect the poor people, who will be made to run around to get their papers instead of earning for their basic and daily needs.

"It's a dichotomous government that we have at the Centre. On the one hand, they want us to provide documents to prove our citizenship, while on the other they refuse to accept the papers that one produces before it for the purpose," he said.

He claimed that the government is forcing its people to resort to lies and declare that they are political refugees from countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Gandhi claimed that time and again documents with the government like electoral rolls and land documents have been used to identify people of certain communities during riots.

"So it is dangerous to give too much information to the government," he said.

He called on the people to have faith in non-violence and asked them to maintain peace and harmony.

B R Ambedkar's great-grandson Rajratna Ambedkar claimed that it is the Adivasis who will also be affected by the CAA.

"I want to tell Modi and Shah that the country runs on the Constitution by Ambedkar and not M S Golwalkar (of RSS)," he said, adding that because of the rights conferred on people by the Constitution, those backward people who did not have the right to sit on a bullock cart are now flying jet planes.

He said that Modi and Shah committed an error by enacting the CAA as it has turned the people of the country into Indians only, instead of Hindus, Muslims, Christians or Sikhs.

"Every machinery of the country has been taken control of by the RSS. If one Modi or one Shah goes, they will bring in several more Modi or Shah," he said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.