Bihar Congress leader says Chief Minister Nitish Kumar needs to clear his 'stand on communalism'

Patna: The Bihar Congress on Tuesday lashed out at the JD(U) for “blaming” Rahul Gandhi for Nitish Kumar’s exit from the Grand Alliance. The JD(U) had alleged that the AICC president failed to back the chief minister when the latter took a stand against corruption cases involving RJD leaders last year. BPCC working president Kaukab Qadri said that the Congress always believed that “communalism posed the biggest threat to the country” and demanded that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar come clean on the issue. [caption id=“attachment_4419859” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. PTI[/caption] “Nitish Kumar’s posturing on corruption is fine. But he had snapped the ties with the BJP in 2013 on the issue of communalism. Now, he has joined hands with the party at a time when it is pursuing its communal agenda more aggressively than ever. He should first clarify his stand on communalism, only then should his party ask others to clarify their stand”, Qadri told PTI. Qadri was reacting to a statement made by JD(U) national general secretary and chief spokesman K C Tyagi earlier this week, wherein the latter had referred to “Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s lack of initiative against corruption cases involving the RJD leadership”. About speculations that the Congress could press for Kumar’s return to the Grand Alliance if he snapped ties with the BJP, Tyagi had said “until and unless Congress clears its stand on a corrupt party like RJD, we do not know how to communicate with them any further”. “The Congress does not need to clear its stand. Our stand has always been clear. The alliance with the RJD has been with a view to fighting communal forces represented by the BJP. It is Nitish Kumar who has been equivocating all through. He should explain as to whether his sitting in the lap of the BJP-RSS is justified just because he claims to stand against corruption”, the BPCC working president said. Moreover, Kumar’s claim that he had formed an alliance with the BJP in the interests of Bihar is also turning out to be ‘bunkum’, he said He (Kumar) is still fighting for grant of special status to the state as if he were an opposition leader. A small request of his like grant of central status to Patna University was last year publicly turned down by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Qadri alleged. “Kumar’s never-ending political flip-flops are taking its toll. His image of an efficient administrator has taken a beating. Not a single day passes when we are not shocked by news of some grisly sexual offence taking place in some part of the state. Today such an incident was reported from his home district of Nalanda”, the Congress leader remarked. “We have now begun to wonder whether Kumar is left with the time and energy to govern Bihar or the state is becoming a fit case for dismissal of the government and imposition of Governor’s rule”, Qadri added.