Nitish defends parting ways with NDA, slams BJP and Congress

Defending his decision to part ways with the NDA, senior JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said he had no regrets.

"Our alliance worked smoothly so long as the BJP put aside contentious issues, but the moment we realised the party intended to raise controversial issues to attain power at the Centre, we broke away," he told an election rally at Katihar.

Kumar said he had no regrets for parting ways with the BJP as he believed it was better than being with a party which professed communal and divisive politics.

The Chief Minister, who is spearheading JD(U)'s campaign in Bihar, claimed the minority community was wary of the BJP due to its communal agenda, a concern also shared by his party.

Campaigning in Kishanganj for JD(U) candidate Mujahid Alam, who is contesting the bypoll from Kochadhaman Assembly seat, the JD(U) leader berated Akhtarul Iman for walking out of the electoral fray from Kishanganj Lok Sabha seat and trashed his plea of "sacrifice for secularism".

Blaming the Congress of conspiring to wean away Iman's candidature, Kumar, while addressing another rally in favour of JD(U) candidate Syed Rukuddin for Baisi Assembly by-election, said, "Iss khel mein badi deal hui hain... Congress isme mahir hain (there has been a big deal in this game... Congress is expert in this)."

"How come he realised all of a sudden in the midst of electioneering about a split of secular forces and played his sacrificial act against communalism?" he asked.

Hitting out at the Congress, Kumar said the party only created problems during its decade-long rule at the Centre and never tried to sort issues like price rise, corruption and unemployment.

The country's image took a hit due to non-performance of the Congress-led government even as the economic growth rate decreased sharply, the senior JD(U) leader said.

On his party's electoral strategy, he said JD(U) was seeking votes on the basis of its performance.

Kumar said his government had catered to the aspirations of the Muslims and ensured them security unlike the Congress which had engineered the Bhagalpur riots in late 1980s and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad who rewarded the rioters.