Amit Shah attacks Nitish Kumar for switching allies in Bihar, says ‘he is fooling Lalu Yadav’

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said that in the next Lok Sabha elections, people will choose between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi, whom the Congress has “tried to fail 20 times”. Addressing a rally in the district, he criticized Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a former BJP ally, for joining hands with the “corrupt” RJD. He also accused Kumar of “betraying” RJD president Lalu Prasad.

Shah said, “In 2024, the people of Bihar will have to make a choice between Narendra Modi and Rahul, whom the Congress has tried to launch 20 times but without success.” Referring to the meeting of opposition leaders in Patna last week, Shah said, “It is true that more than 20 parties agreed to come together. But it should also be noted that these parties together are responsible for scams of more than Rs 20 lakh crore.

Hitting out at JD(U) chief Kumar, who hosted the meeting, Shah said, “Such a person who keeps changing sides cannot be entrusted with the responsibility of running Bihar.” ,

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“Kumar harbors prime ministerial ambitions. But the truth is that he is not going to become the Prime Minister. He is only cheating (fooling) Lalu ji,” Shah said.

The allusion was to the handshake between Kumar and Prasad and the promise made by the former that his son Tejashwi Yadav, currently the deputy CM, would lead the charge when the state faces the next assembly polls.

In his nearly 25-minute speech, Shah praised Modi and recalled the “honour” he had received on his recent foreign visits, where “at one place his autograph was asked and at another his feet were touched”.

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The home minister said, “It is not the BJP, but the people of India, including Bihar, who are indirectly the recipients of the honour.”

He also referred to the surgical strike after the attack on the Uri army base camp and the Balakot airstrike after the Pulwama terror attack, and claimed that this was in stark contrast to the response of the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh-led government, which Shah called Made fun of “Mauni Baba (a silent old man).” ,

The former BJP president also talked about the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya and abrogation of Article 370.

Recalling the government’s policies, Shah said, “All these parties, Congress, JD(U), RJD and TMC, used to say that if we touch Article 370, there will be blood on the streets. No pebble was thrown.” August 2019 move..

The BJP leader was also miffed at Kumar’s repeated allegation that the present ruling dispensation has achieved nothing and is busy in publicity.

“Kumar should have some respect (sic) towards the people with whom he had aligned for so long,” Shah said, presenting figures and statistics to underline the Centre’s contribution to Bihar’s development. Made a special mention of projects like Patna Metro and so on. Proposed AIIMS in Darbhanga.

The BJP leader thanked the people of Bihar for generously voting for the party and its allies in the last few Lok Sabha elections and expressed hope that the NDA would be rewarded with “all 40 seats” in the state in the next elections. The rally was also addressed by several senior BJP leaders including Union ministers Giriraj Singh, Nityanand Rai and Ashwini Choubey, besides former deputy CM and Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi and state unit president Samrat Chowdhary.