Tejashwi Yadav will be the “real chief minister” of Bihar in the present JD(U)-RJD-Congress government and Nitish Kumar has ambitions to be the opposition’s prime ministerial candidate, senior BJP leader from Bihar and union rural development minister Giriraj Singh has told News18.
In a detailed interview in Delhi on Tuesday, Singh termed Kumar as an “amarbel” (immortal vine) and an “ajooba mukhyamantri” (unique CM) who has grown using others and has never fought or won an election on his strength. Singh, the MP from Begusarai, also alleged that the new government will provide sanctuary to the Popular Front of India, claiming Nitish has a “soft corner” and Lalu Prasad has a “super-soft corner” for such elements, which he said the BJP will oppose. Edited excerpts:
The RJD has got 16 ministers, the maximum in the new government. So will CM Nitish Kumar still call the shots?
You have asked a question to which I would say ‘mere angne mein tumhara kya kaam hai?’ Who is the chief minister and who is the deputy CM, the public of Bihar knows. Asli CM to Tejashwi hi honge…pata chalega (real CM will be Tejashwi…it’ll be clear soon).
The JD(U) says it broke the alliance with the BJP as your party would have split the party using RCP Singh who became a union minister against Nitish’s wishes…
Nitish Kumar should tell why the alliance broke. Such allegations are baseless. ‘Kahin pe nigahen, kahin pe nishana’.
Tell me, did Nitish ever write a letter to the Prime Minister or the home minister that without his approval RCP Singh became a union minister? This is just not possible.
When people say we will break the JD(U) through RCP Singh, I would ask why would we break the JD(U)? When we made Nitish the CM when he was at 43 seats and we were 74, what would we have achieved by breaking his party? If we had to break the JD(U) and did not want to form a government with him, it would have been at the start (in 2020). Bachchon jaisi baatein kyun karte hain (Why does he speak like a child)?
It is a face-saving effort as he has no other words. That is why I say ‘kahin pe nigahen, kahin pe nishana’.
What are you hinting at?
Nitish Kumar wants to become the PM candidate of the opposition. It has already started when he said ‘2014 wale 2024 mein rahenge ki nahin’. He is himself now saying many phone calls are coming to him. Nachna hai toh ghoonghat kaisa, ab parda khul raha hai, baat asli yeh tha (The whole thing is now getting revealed, this was the real reason). This is why he broke the alliance and needed a face-saving reason.
The Centre also exposed PFI links in Bihar recently. Was that also a reason for Nitish Kumar’s move?
Nitish Kumar’s party has said they broke the alliance on account of communal disharmony and tensions being spread. In 2013, he was the CM when there was a serial blast in Patna in an attempt to kill Narendra Modi. Agencies have found a network of PFI in 13 districts of Bihar. Yeh sleeper cells aur terrorism ka Bihar ban raha hai (the state is becoming one of sleeper cells and terror). This government is one that will harbour and shelter the PFI. For Nitish, this is a vote bank.
We will fight against this PFI influence and such politics. What do they want to make Bihar? When Nitish and Lalu were together, efforts were made to disturb communal harmony in the state. Bihar had 500 schools that closed on Fridays. It was closed because Nitish had a soft corner and Lalu had a super-soft corner. This means Bihar had not one law of the Centre but sharia or communal law running here.
Nitish Kumar has said he will honour Tejashwi Yadav’s promise of giving 10 lakh jobs…
New words from Nitish are emerging now. He had earlier said that from where the money will come, from jail? Now, where will the money come from? I would appeal to Nitish Kumar to make public the blueprint and plan for this exercise and put out the achievement every quarter on how many jobs are given. It cannot be a game of hide-and-seek.
Nitish Babu is a good man. In Bihar, after Shri Krishna Sinha, perhaps Nitish would remain CM for the longest tenure. But he is such a CM who on his own strength can never form a government or run it. Yeh amarbel hai, amarlata hai (he is an immortal vine) who grows on others, using their energy and juice and then overshadows them. He is an ajooba CM of the country who on his strength has never been able to stand up.
We practice the politics of commitment, we considered Nitish Kumar as our leader and hence we gave power in his hands.
The last time when the BJP contested on its own in Bihar in 2015, it lost to the JD(U)-RJD-Congress alliance. Can things be different in 2025?
The issues have changed since and there is not much difference now in the percentage of vote share. Today, Nitish is standing with those whose dynasty and performance will be debated. In 2014, when Modi was the PM face, people did some calculations in states but the same failed. The vote is not with any party, it is with the public. The public is not a slave to go with any party. No one should be in this illusion — MY equation, BY equation, TY equation…this does not work.
Modi lives in the hearts of all. They (the opposition) are most bothered that Modi is from a backward poor community, that he lives for the poor and works for the poor. They are working on Modi ka naash kaise ho (how to destroy Modi). There may be a collection of parties against Modi but he is ruling over the hearts of the people. This will be the key to our win in Bihar.
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