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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s visit to Bihar provoked the BJP into taunting the anti-corruption crusader about his newfound association with the “fountainhead of corruption”, Lalu Prasad.
The BJP dug up Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia’s old tweets criticising Lalu, to accuse the two AAP leaders of “political opportunism”.
The party fielded general secretary in charge of Bihar Bhupendra Yadav, along with spokesperson Sambit Patra, on Thursday to heap scorn at Kejriwal praising Nitish Kumar at Patna the same day.
“Sources tell us that Nitish Kumar is not very happy about Kejriwal’s utterances in Bihar. Nitishji had expected Kejriwal to praise him. But he has gone there and given him a lecture about his superior performances as Chief Minister of Delhi,” said Patra.
He quoted a tweet posted by Kejriwal on October 30, 2013, in which he had commented on the sentence awarded to Lalu in the fodder scam case. “Lalu made crores in fodder scam and he has to pay only ₹25 lakh as fine. A sweet deal?” Kejriwal had tweeted.
“Now we want to know what kind of deal Kejriwal has made with Lalu. This is a very innovative way of fighting corruption. We want to know ki ‘AAP Lalu ke hain kaun ’ aur ‘ Yeh rishtakya kehlata hai ’ (quoting popular film titles to describe AAP’s relationship with Lalu),” said Patra.
About Kejriwal’s reported comments in Bihar about “Centre ki goondagardi (bullying)”, Patra quoted another tweet by Sisodia on November 30, 2012, where he apparently referred to hooliganism in Bihar.
“What happened to your stand on Lalu’s jungle raj? All you remember now is the Centre’s gunda raj.
“What I am trying to point out is Kejriwal’s newfound fondness for Nitish Kumar displays total political opportunism,” said Patra.
According to Bhupendra Yadav, Nitish’s election campaign is “floundering”, which is why he has “taken refuge in Kejriwal’s utterances”.
Total negativity“None of his campaign strategies are working in Bihar. He started with a promise of development and has turned it around to total negativity once the Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a special package in Bihar. His shabd-wapsi campaign also did not work,” said Yadav.
The BJP general secretary asserted that the PM has put development firmly on Bihar’s agenda. “Even if Nitish Kumar is criticising it, the fact is that the PM’s special package is what everyone in Bihar is talking about,” he added.
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