Chirag Paswan parted ways with NDA because of Nitish's arrogance: Rai

Union minister Nityanand Rai on Saturday rejected Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's charge that former Lok Janshakti Party president Chirag Paswan had worked as a BJP agent in the assembly polls nearly three years ago.

Rai alleged that Paswan, whom we never wanted to quit the NDA had parted ways because of the arrogance of Kumar, the JD(U)'s supreme leader, whom he also charged with having lost touch with public sentiment.

It is false to say that we wanted to weaken Nitish Kumar in the 2020 assembly polls. His party fared much worse than the BJP because he has lost touch with public sentiment. His arrogance had become a big problem and it was the only reason why Chirag Paswan had to break apart, claimed Rai, a former Bihar BJP president.

Paswan had fielded LJP candidates, many of them BJP rebels, in all seats contested by the JD(U) which finished with a tally of 43, a steep decline since 2015 when it had won 71 seats.

Though BJP chose to stick to its alliance with Kumar, Paswan openly stated that his brinkmanship was aimed at helping the saffron party form its own government.

On Friday, Kumar had blamed the poor show of his party in assembly polls on the BJP's use of its agent, without naming the former ally or Paswan by name.

However, Rai said, Chirag had fielded his candidates against a few of our (BJP) people too. Moreover, we stuck to our promise and made Kumar the Chief Minister despite the obvious decline in his popularity. This is a fact he cannot deny.

Asked about suggestions that BJP might have backed Kumar for another term in office because the party had a dearth of credible faces, Rai said, That is nonsense. We have a plethora of faces.

It has been the BJP's history that it helps other parties in national interest. We helped Nitish Kumar to help Bihar rid itself of the misrule of Lalu Prasad's RJD. Though Lalu too was supported by us when he first became the CM of Bihar because he was then fighting against the Congress, said Rai.

The BJP's fundamental fight has been with the Congress because it is the party that compromised on the issue of partition, the minister claimed.

"Pakistan was formed a day ahead of our Independence. These are the sins of the Congress because of which we have never formed an alliance with that party, said Rai.

Asked about Kumar's claim that many NDA partners would jump ship close to the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP leader replied, He no longer has a mind of his own. He joined hands with Congress-RJD combine to fulfil his Prime Ministerial ambitions. He now says only what he is stall-fed by his current allies.

Nitish Kumar has forgotten "past insults" from the RJD and he is unmindful of the "worsening" law and order situation in Bihar where murders, rapes and other heinous offences are taking place daily, alleged Rai who is the Union Minister of State for Home.

To a query about the BJP's reluctance to conduct a caste census, Rai, a prominent OBC face of the party in Bihar where it is largely seen as pro-upper caste, said, We are only against any attempts to divide the society along caste lines for the sake of power. This was a strategy British colonialists had adopted and which continued under Congress rule in the country and RJD rule in Bihar.