Motihari: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday laughed away BJP`s claim about collapse of his government after Lok Sabha polls and said for him the bigger challenge was to protect the country and not the chair.
"They (BJP) leaders are even predicting date on which my government will collapse in Bihar...I really feel like laughing at them," Kumar said addressing an election rally at Chakia in Purvi Champaran Lok Sabha seat.
Former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi claimed that 50 JD(U) MLAs were up in arms against the Chief Minister and were working for victory of BJP in the current elections to say that Nitish Kumar government would collapse after the poll.
His (Sushil`s) party colleague and former minister Ashwani Choubey even "predicted" May 21 as the date when the Nitish Kumar government would fall in Bihar.
"Jab jeevan ka thikana nahi hai to kursi ka kaya baat karna (when there is no certainty of life, what to talk about chair)," he said ridiculing BJP leader`s `forecast` about his government coming to an end in Bihar after the polls.
"The day I had decided to snap ties with the BJP on the issue of principle, I never bothered about the chair," he said justifying decision to break away from BJP over elevation of Narendra Modi as a prime ministerial candidate.
"Jab desh rahega tub kai baar kursi ayega (If the country survives, chair will come again and again)," he said.
Seeking support for JD(U) candidate Awnish Kumar Singh from Purvi Champaran, Kumar alleged the present BJP leaders had "digressed" from the path of its tallest leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee and this was the reason for JD(U) to end the tie-up with them.
Awnish Kumar Singh crossed sides from BJP to JD(U) and was made a party nominee from Purvi Champaran by Kumar.
"BJP has changed its face and has brought forward a person on whom crores of Muslims do not have trust," he alleged in an apparent dig at Narendra Modi.
Mocking BJP`s slogan of "Majboot Bharat" (Strong India), he said, this could not be achieved by adding arsenals, fighter planes and submarines but through "apsi bhai chara" (feeling of brotherhood).
Kumar criticised BJP for indulging in "mud-slinging" with Congress and giving its poll agenda a go by.
He reminded people of the good works done by his government in the state and promised to carry it on if people voted for him.
