Buoyed by three senior leaders — one each from JD(U), RJD and BSP — joining the BJP in Bihar on Monday, the saffron party renewed its attacks on chief minister Nitish Kumar on his flagship poll issue of special status for the state, saying it may reduce Bihar’s share in central grants.
The BJP’s state headquarters wore a look of celebration as the BSP’s Bihar vice-president for over 20 years, Janak Chamar, former RJD legislator Ramswarath Rai and the ruling JD(U)’s Rajesh Sinha were formally inducted into the BJP along with hundreds of their supporters. State BJP chief Mangal Pandey, former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and several senior BJP leaders were present to welcome the inductees, who eloquently reposed their faith in Narendra Modi’s leadership. “All parties in India except the BJP have been craven to the Congress, and therefore contributed to the deterioration of the nation economically and socio-politically. But now people of the entire nation see hope in the leadership of Narendra Modi. I joined the BJP to help make him prime minister,” said Mr Chamar, who had earlier contested the LS polls from Gopalganj. Sushil Kumar Modi freshly accused Nitish Kumar and the JD(U) of misleading Bihar’s people on the supposed benefits of special state status and said Bihar, if given this status, would get a reduced share in the grant for states under the Normal Central Assist-ance. He said the NCA comes to both special category states and general category states in the form of 100 per cent grants.