A CM accused of murder preaching zero tolerance for corruption?: Lalu to Nitish

PATNA: After Nitish Kumar resigned as Bihar Chief Minister, his grand alliance partner and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav said the former stepped down fearing his exposure in murder case slapped against him, while also questioning his intent behind the decision. “Nitish Kumar knew that he is accused in a murder and an Arms Act case under Sections 302 and 307 of the IPC. He also declared this in elections affidavit. Nitish knew that if he would ask Tejashwi to resign then his crime will be exposed,” Lalu told media. “Nitish seems to have understood that he wouldn’t be able to survive, and hence he has joined hands with BJP and RSS. I told Nitish Kumar not to resign, the public voted alliance for 5 years,” he said. “It is he who backtracked, despite our best efforts. Wasn’t he the person who said ‘mitti mein mil jayeengey, BJP key saath nahin jayeengey (won’t go with the BJP even if I die)?” Lalu further accused Nitish to have been hand-in-glove with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) all this while. Addressing a press conference, he said, “The setting is done with the BJP and the RSS. This was proved when the Prime Minister was quick to congratulate him for his fight against corruption.” “ What a setting! The Prime Minister’s tweet after the resignation indicates how strong this conspiracy was to destabilise the alliance,” Prasad said. Bihar saw a major turn of events on Wednesday evening when Nitish Kumar unexpectedly resigned from his post, instead of Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, as was being speculated and expected. But hours later, he joined hands with the BJP to reclaim the government in a stunning political manoeuvre that relegated his alliance partner RJD to the opposition. Kumar was on Thursday sworn in as the chief minister of Bihar for the sixth time. BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi was also administered the oath by Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi in Patna. Here are other points that Mr Yadav made:

• We are largest party, we have a claim to power
• Nitish Kumar has murder taint on him, we never raised it
• Nitish Kumar faced charges worse than corruption, we knew it
• Nitish Kumar understood he wouldn’t be able to survive, he joined hands with BJP and RSS
• I told Nitish Kumar not to resign, public voted alliance for 5 years
• Nitish Kumar did not once mention about Tejashwi’s resignation. What did we do?
• He only said we should clarify on the corruption charges in the public domain.
• I talked to Nitishji last night and asked him to clear all the misunderstandings. We talked for 40 minutes.