Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday hit out at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for targetting the saffron outfit, and said that the seniors leaders will remain respected in his party
"Our senior leaders are too respected for us like father figure, leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Advaniji. All the leaders in the BJP owe their schooling to Advaniji and Atalji. Therefore, the respected will remain respected in the party," said Prasad.
"But by the way what respect has been given to George Fernandes in the Samata Party, in the JD (U), who was the founder of Samata Party. Where is he and what respect he was given?" he asked.
Prasad further said that the people of Bihar have been cheated by this kind of withdrawal, the mandate has sought to be completely ignored and the people will give a response.
The Bihar Chief Minister earlier in the day rejected the BJP's charge of betrayal, and accused the saffron outfit of betraying and ignoring its own senior leaders.
"They (the BJP) have betrayed their own leaders... how can they accuse us of betrayal? If anyone is talking about betrayal, then betrayal has been from the other side. Someone who betrays his own seniors, can't talk about being betrayed," he told the media in Patna a day after the Janata Dal (United) broke its 17-year-old alliance with the BJP.
Kumar further said the JD-U had chosen to opt out of the alliance because it could not see eye to eye with the new BJP leadership, especially in the wake of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's elevation as the leader of the BJP's 2014 general election campaign.
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"The era of Atal-Advani is over.... we cannot accept the new order of the BJP," Kumar reiterated today, referring to the iconic leaders of the BJP, LK Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Asserting that decision to split with the NDA not taken in haste, Kumar said: "It was decided after due consideration and taken at the right time."
"I called BJP leaders to decide a roadmap of the split. They did not come. By not coming for the meeting, BJP closed the door on talks," he added.
JD (U) has 118 MLAs in 243-member Bihar assembly and needs the support of only four more MLAs to have a majority.
There are 91 MLAS from BJP, 21 from RJD and one each from LJP and CPI in the state assembly.