Reacting to the proposed electoral alliance between the RJD and the Congress and Rahul Gandhi's claim that it would be an alliance between two ideas and not individuals, Nitish reacted, "The RJD-Congress alliance is an old one. Lalu was a senior member of the UPA-I cabinet. In UPA-II, though he was not made a minister, the Congress allowed him a front seat in Lok Sabha."
Speaking to media on the legislature premises after filing of nomination papers by the three JD (U) candidates for the Rajya Sabha election, Nitish said, "In every respect, the RJD-Congress alliance is a natural one. They have a common mind and common agenda." He added, "The track record of the two parties is also similar - they did not speak against rising prices and corruption. Their support base is declining faster because of corruption and rising prices. There had been a series of corruption cases under the UPA regime, but the Congress leaders did not speak on these issues."
Nitish took a potshot on Rahul Gandhi and said, "When he had torn copies of an ordinance passed by the cabinet to allow convicted corrupt leaders from contesting elections, I too had praised him. But later on, I realized it was a farce."
The CM said corruption will be a major election issue during the Lok Sabha polls. JD (U) had led successful Bharat bandhs twice on the issue. The RJD and Congress speak one thing but act differently. I was hopeful of getting special status for Bihar. The finance secretary had convened a meeting on November 26 to take follow-up action on the Raghuram Rajan report, but the move was aborted under the pressure of RJD chief. Suddenly, brakes were applied on the issue and special status was put in cold storage on the wishes of RJD, he alleged.
Nitish also took strong objection to the denial of invitation to him for the foundation laying function of the proposed new centre of Aligarh Muslim University by Sonia Gandhi on January 30 at Kishanganj. "The Congress has set a bad precedent. We have neither been invited nor informed about the function," he regretted.
The CM recalled he had not only selected Kishanganj for the new AMU campus and made land available for it free of charge two years back but also got a temporary building allotted for starting teaching. He termed the lack of invitation as "objectionable". The UPA chairperson is coming to lay the foundation stone as the Lok Sabha election approaches. Nitish warned the function would be counter productive for the Congress.
Referring to Rahul Gandhi's interview to a TV channel, Nitish said the Congress was in power when anti-Sikh riots took place in 1984 and anti-Muslim riots took place at Bhagalpur in 1989. Both these riots are equally condemnable, like the 2002 riots in Gujarat. The RJD government, supported by the Congress, did nothing for the riot victims, but the JD (U) government gave lifelong pension to the victims' families and also got the accused retried and convicted.
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