‘BJP Knows Nitish’s Weakness, Making Him Dance to Its Tunes:’ Cong

‘BJP exploiting Nitish’s weak point to keep him silent on issues like CAA,’ said Bihar AICC Chief, Shaktisinh Gohil.

File photo of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

(Photo: IANS)

The Congress on Wednesday, 12 February said it suspected that the BJP was in the know of "some weak point" in Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and exploiting it to make the JD(U) chief "dance to its tunes" on issues like CAA and the ongoing debate on whether reservations were a "fundamental right".

AICC in-charge of the state Shaktisinh Gohil made the controversial remark at a press conference organized at the BPCC headquarters here and clarified that he was drawing an inference based on his knowledge of the style of functioning of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, whom he did not mention by name.

“Had I known exactly what this weak point is, I would have announced the same at a press conference in New Delhi but I hail from Gujarat and know how these two gentlemen function. All hell breaks loose on whosoever acts or speaks in a manner that harms their interests. It can be in the form of cases slapped by law enforcement agencies, some scandal involving a family member or a sleazy CD.”

Shaktisinh Gohil, AICC in-charge of Bihar

He wondered if such was not the case with Nitish, "how come he supported the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Parliament despite his ideological commitments and is once again silent on the issue of reservations,” he said.

"I am sure, the truth will be out one day. May be it will be disclosed by Nitish Kumar himself", he added, tongue in cheek.

The Congress leader also dismissed Shahs repeated assurances to the Bihar CM that he would lead the NDA charge in the assembly elections due later this year and claimed it was a change of tack just ahead of by-elections to a few assembly seats last year wherein the NDA was expected to be drubbed.

Prior to that, the BJPs national general secretary in- charge of the state Bhupendra Yadav had openly spoken about the partys ambition to form its own government in Bihar. "These people have a history of going back on their promises", Gohil alleged.

The Congress leader, whose party is a part of the Grand Alliance, ducked queries about the coalitions Chief Ministerial candidate and resentment among some constituents over the RJDs "unilateral" announcement that Tejashwi Yadav will be the face of the five-party alliance. "RJD is our old, trusted ally. There are going to be no problems in our camp", the Congress leader asserted.

About the party’s dismal performance in Delhi where the Congress failed to win a single seat and lost deposits in most, Gohil said "we fought with all our might. But the people were in a mood to punish the BJP and they feared that a split in votes could benefit the saffron party. So we bore the brunt".

"The verdict is, however, a resounding slap in the face of BJP which has been trying to brush under the carpet issues relating to peoples daily lives by focusing their campaign on non-essentials like Shaheen Bagh and Pakistan", he added.

Gohil blamed the ongoing reservation controversy on the questionable approach of BJP-RSS towards affirmative action for the underprivileged and challenged the Centre to file a review petition against the Supreme Court judgement which "relied upon the submission made by the government of BJP- ruled Uttarakhand".

"To pass the buck, Union minister Thavarchand Gehlot misled the Parliament with the claim that the Uttarakhand government went by the precedent set by previous Congress government our party will challenge the Supreme Court order. "Let the Centre do the same if the BJP is honest about its intentions and let its allies, including those in Bihar, come clean on the issue", Gohil fumed.

"This has been a trait of BJP-RSS. Many Sangh stalwarts have spoken against reservations. For electoral gains, they change the tack and Narendra Modi was presented as a farji (fake) OBC.

I had exposed this dubious claim prior to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and was immediately slapped with a number of FIRs in Gujarat. He claimed these were withdrawn when the party realized that the whole issue could backfire as he had evidences to adduce.