Those in NDA out of fear will jump ship at time of polls, says Nitish Kumar

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday claimed that many NDA constituents were with Prime Minister Narendra Modiled BJP out of fear and would jump ship at the time of electionsThe JDU leader who is one of the key architects of the opposition coalition INDIA responded with a resounding bilkul certainly to repeated queries from journalists as to whether he foresaw a wipeout of the NDA in 2024 Lok Sabha pollsAsked about Modis ghamandia jibe he said All of us have joined hands for the betterment of the country They the BJP are not aware that many parties which I shall not name right now are with them out of fear They will come over to this side when the elections are announcedKumar who snapped ties with the BJP a year ago also took a veiled dig at Modis absence from the Parliament during the first two days of debate on the noconfidence motionThe House is in session and people remain busy roaming around ghoomte rahte hain A far cry from the days when Atal Bihari Vajpayee used to be in power and I was one of his ministers We used to make it a point to remain inside the House and pay attention to the proceedings the septuagenarian recalledThe JDU leader whose party supported the noconfidence motion was of the view that the opposition did its job by highlighting the Manipur issue and other problems faced by the countryUnfortunately the ruling dispensation seems to have captured the media So little coverage is given to the opposition while whatever these people say or do is published and broadcast ad nauseum I have cut down my consumption of news in disgust exclaimed the longestserving Chief Minister of BiharHe also lashed out at the BJP when his attention was drawn towards the saffron partys repeated claim of routing the Mahagathbandhan which he joined after quitting the NDAThey keep mocking my party as being number three in terms of numerical strength in the assembly They should admit the conspiracy they had hatched with the help of their agent said Kumar obliquely referring to Chirag Paswan who was heading the Lok Janshakti Party during the 2020 Vidhan Sabha pollsPaswan had fielded candidates many of them BJP rebels in all seats which were being contested by the JDU causing the tally of the chief ministers party to fall drasticallyAfter the elections I had refused to go for another term as chief minister I relented only because of the BJPs insistence They gloat about their superior numbers They should remember Lok Sabha and assembly polls of the past when we fought together and JDU won more seats than they did said KumarWistfully remembering Vajpayee for whom I will always have immense respect Kumar accused the current dispensation in the BJP of having other priorities and complained about the refusal to grant special status to Bihar and alleged attempts to take credit for schemes launched by the state governmentIt was we who took piped water to every household and electricity to every village But they wanted to project these as their own achievements alleged KumarThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever