Nitish rules out returning to NDA, BJP says he is a ‘liability’
"What rubbish are you talking,” the JD(U) chief shot back as RJD leader and deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav stood by his side, grinning
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday (September) ruled out returning to the BJP-led NDA, which he had quit a year ago. On its part, the BJP said he will never be taken back.
Nitish Kumar was speaking at a function in Patna organised to mark the birth anniversary of RSS icon Deen Dayal Upadhyay.
Journalists asked Nitish Kumar if he was planning a return to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
"What rubbish are you talking,” he shot back as RJD leader and deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav stood by his side, grinning.
He also responded to queries on future activities of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) and voiced disapproval of his party colleagues calling him a "prime minister material".
Nitish Kumar said he did not know why BJP leaders were not present although they used to attend the event when the JD(U) and BJP shared power.
Furious BJP
BJP leaders who reached the spot shortly after the chief minister, his cabinet colleagues and government officials had left said they were not invited to the function.
BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, Nitish Kumar's former deputy, called the JD(U) chief a "political liability who had lost his steam" and said he would not be welcomed back even if he begged to be taken back.
The BJP leader, now a Rajya Sabha member, asserted that their bridges have been burnt.
"Nitish Kumar has now become a liability. He is now incapable of getting a single vote transferred to alliance partners. Why would we like to realign? All doors are closed for him.
“He is no more welcome even if he begs to do so by rubbing his nose on the ground."
(With agency inputs)
