Biharsharif: Taking fight against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to public post split, BJP on Thursday held a huge rally at Kumar`s home turf of Nalanda and blamed him for "betraying" mandate given to NDA by the masses in 2010 state polls.
Billed as "Biswaghat (betrayal) rally", the BJP campaign to drum up support for its campaign committee chief Narendra Modi rally in Bihar on October 27 next, that started from Kumar`s native district of Nalanda was huge as reflected by presence of a large number of people.
Led by former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, all 11 former BJP ministers in the NDA cabinet were present in the rally and spoke aggressively against Kumar and castigated him for breaking up with it.
The leaders spitted venom against the Bihar Chief Minister who hitherto was the face of NDA in Bihar in last over one decade.
BJP Lok Sabha member from Bhagalpur and its spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain, party general secretary Radha Mohan Singh, state party president Mangal Pandey and ex-president Gopal Narayan Singh were present in the rally.
Launching blistering attack on Kumar, his former deputy Sushil Kumar Modi assailed him for "poaching" on BJP MLAs to save his chair.
"The man who claims practising politics of principles is actually doing `saudabazzi` (horse trading) of legislators of BJP and other parties," Modi said addressing the rally.
He claimed more than two dozen JD(U) MLAs were in touch with BJP and Kumar`s party would split the day he expands his Cabinet.
Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly Nand Kishore Yadav charged Kumar with "hobnobbing" with Congress against which he fought all along his life.
"Kumar is sitting in the lap of Congress," Yadav said.
Four Congress MLAs had voted in favour of Kumar in the trust vote. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other senior Congress leaders have described Kumar as "secular" and praised him, Yadav said.
Shahnawaz Hussain said that "spirit of late Indira Gandhi has entered in Kumar and he has become a dictator like her".
Ashwani Choubey, Giriraj Singh and a host of other ministers in Nitish cabinet before the split hit hard on him and castigated him for claiming alone the progress of Bihar under NDA in the past eight year.
The BJP has planned to 100 such rallies across the state as part of efforts to set the stage for its campaign panel chief Narendra Modi rally on October 27.
Modi`s elevation within BJP forced Kumar to snap ties with the party with which JD(U) had close association for 17 years.
PTI
