Click to play videoNew Delhi: UPA’s chase for Bihar CM Nitish Kumar came to a final halt on Monday when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh virtually accused him of being communal.
“There is no doubt that Nitish Kumar prefaces to be a secular leader but after yesterday, his sharing dais with Narendra Modi raises questions in my mind,” he said.
For the congress, the value of nitish was in the widespread assessment that he would sweep Bihar. But his presence in NDA’s Ludhiana rally has now taken the sheen off, at least for the Congress.
Nitihs, too, was scathing in his criticism of the Central government. “I am surprised at PM’s comments. PM should not try to become VC of university of secularism. Secularism is a mental entity,” he said.
The Congress will now need to win back its estranged allies – LJP’s Ram Vilas Paswan and RJD’s Lalu Prasad - who had been sulking after all the attention showered on Nitish.
They are also battling Nitish in Bihar.
For the congress, this is one loss it'll have to reconcile with in its post poll arithmetic and coming from the PM, an immediate U-turn might not be politically feasible.
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