New Delhi: Even as JD(U) and BJP have
patched up after their recent tiff, LJP feels the whole
episode was "stage-managed" to confuse people of Bihar ahead
of the Assembly polls and contends that Chief Minister Nitish
Kumar is "playing the RSS game".
LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan said the incident had
"exposed" Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Kosi flood
relief and demanded a judicial or CBI probe to find out the
amount of aid received by the state and how much was spent.
"JD(U) and BJP are engaging in shadow boxing. There
appears to be an agreement between BJP and JD-U that they
would play Hindu and Muslim cards, respectively, to confuse
voters," Paswan said while commenting on the recent tiff
between the two ruling coalition partners of Bihar.
"It is stage-managed as per the RSS strategy. Nitish
Kumar is playing the RSS game," Paswan said in an
interview here.
He said while BJP was trying to bring Gujarat Chief
Minister Narendra Modi to the forefront to garner Hindu votes,
Nitish was talking of Muslim Dalits to woo minorities.
"People have seen through this double game and the NDA
will pay heavily for it," Paswan claimed.
Last month, Kumar, who belongs to JD(U), had snubbed the
BJP by cancelling a dinner for its top leadership after
advertisements were published in local dailies showing Modi
and Kumar holding hands. He also returned Rs five crore given
to Bihar government by Gujarat government in 2008 for Kosi
flood relief.
This led to a war of words. But later both parties said
the issue had been resolved.
Not impressed by this, Paswan said if Kumar is "so
worried" about secularism, he should snap ties with BJP.
"Kumar is running a government in Bihar along with BJP,
whose attitude towards Muslims is known to all," he said.
The LJP leader said if Kumar was "serious" about his
differences with BJP`s ideology, he should part ways.
"Similarly if BJP feels humiliated, it should walk out of the
alliance," he said.
Talking about return of Rs 500 crore Kosi aid money by
Bihar government to Gujarat, the LJP chief said the episode
has "exposed" Nitish Kumar on the relief programme.
Alleging that the Bihar government did not spend the
money it got from various quarters for flood relief work,
Paswan demanded a CBI or judicial probe to find out how much
aid was received and what actually was spent.
He also hit out at Kumar for demanding that Dalits among
Muslims should be accorded Scheduled Caste (SC) status, saying
it is just to "mislead" the Muslims.
PTI
