Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday asked what connection did Amit Shah have with Jayaprakash Narayan, a day after the Union home minister took a swipe at the Janata Dal (United) leader citing his ties with the late socialist leader and changing sides to stay in power.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Kumar said, “Doesn’t everyone know about our relation with Jayaprakash Narayan. Work was done under his leadership (as part of the JP movement). We had an affinity for him. Will they (Shah and BJP) tell us about JP? Do they know anything? What do they have to do with him?”
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On the occasion of Narayan’s 120th birth anniversary on Tuesday, Shah slammed Kumar for allying with the Congress to form a government in Bihar.
“Jayaprakash Narayan fought for ideology and not power. But those who do politics in his name have changed sides five times for power and are sitting in the lap of the same Congress against which he fought all his life. He is power hungry, and for power, he sacrificed JP’s ideologies and joined hands with the Congress,” Shah said at an event in Narayan’s village, Sitab Diara.
The Union home minister further said that Bihar CM had nothing to do with the ideologies of Narayan, who was popularly known as JP.
Kumar said Shah neither had the age nor experience to comment on Narayan’s legacy.
“He (Amit Shah) came into prominence only in 2002 onwards, when the current Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) was the chief minister (of Gujarat). What was his standing then and where was he before that? Shah wants to speak about the JP movement which took place in 1974. What does he know about it? How old is he?” Kumar told reporters, PTI reported.
In August, Kumar, who won the Bihar assembly election in 2020 as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), renewed his ties with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Congress and other parties to form the new state government.
Kumar became chief minister for the eighth time and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav became his deputy of the new Mahagathbandhan government.
(With agency inputs)
