With the JD(U)-led NDA alliance under strain in Bihar, LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan today asked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to quit if he felt that BJP was "really a communal party". "Don't enact a drama. If you (Kumar) really think that BJP is a communal party, rush to Raj Bhavan immediately (and resign)," Paswan told a press conference in Patna.
Charging Kumar with taking BJP's support for clinging to power, LJP chief questioned why the chief minister was averse to his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi's visit to Bihar. He dubbed BJP as spineless and JD(U) as a party playing fraud with people and trying to cheat minorities.
Paswan said if BJP has self-respect and prestige, it should snap ties with JD(U) and withdraw support to the Nitish Kumar government. He said people of Bihar understood the "gimmicks" of Kumar and will give NDA a befitting reply during the Assembly elections a few months away.
Referring to Kumar returning Rs 5 crore flood relief to Gujarat, Paswan demanded appointment of a commission headed by a sitting High Court judge to find out how the Kosi relief fund was spent.
"Keeping Gujarat's contribution in 2008 unspent for such a long period smacks of foul play... we believe that the state government has failed to reach the relief to the affected people," he said. Paswan said return of the flood relief money to Gujarat has "tremendously tarnished" Bihar's image. PTI
