Indus Valley Times

NEW DELHI,JAN 30 :  Days after Nitish Kumar quit the Mahagathbandhan alliance in Bihar and joined hands with NDA, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday broke his silence on his defection. Rahul Gandhi said Nitish Kumar exited INDIA bloc due to the Bihar caste survey.

“Understand why Nitish Ji got stuck. I told him straight that ‘you will have to conduct caste census in Bihar’. And we (Congress), along with RJD, insisted on Nitish ji conducting the survey. But BJP got scared. They are opposed to this plan. Nitish ji got stuck and BJP provided him the back door to run away!” Rahul Gandhi said.

He added, “It is our alliance’s (INDIA bloc’s) responsibility to give you all social justice and we don’t need Nitish ji for it.”

Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for a record ninth time on Sunday, with BJP leaders Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Sinha as his deputies. Nitish Kumar had said that the political situation in the state had emerged “because not everything was alright”.

Rahul Gandhi, however, claimed that Nitish Kumar had decided to make a ‘U-turn’ after he succumbed to “a little bit of pressure”.

Rahul Gandhi cracked a joke over Nitish Kumar’s switching sides again and said, “The Chief Minister went to take oath at Raj Bhavan and after swearing in, he leaves. In the car he realises he forgot his shawl. He tells driver to return. He goes back to Raj Bhavan. Governor says “Why are again back, so soon!”

“A little bit of pressure, and he makes a U-turn,” Rahul Gandhi said, adding, “But why the pressure in the first place? Because our alliance is raising the issues that matter to people.”

-PTI