Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday claimed that the RJD and the Congress were in cahoots as evident from the statement of RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh but its party chief Lalu Prasad Yadav ruled out any such tieup.
“The statement of Singh has proved that the game has been fixed between the Congress and RJD. We always had a firm belief that they are fighting separately only to join later. Their purpose is clear. They act separately against us, but are together in all things,” Mr Kumar told reporters here.
Mr Singh had said on Monday that the RJD would seek the support of the Congress in the event of a hung Assembly.
The RJD chief, however said, “I rule out any possibility of a post-poll pact with the Congress to form the government. There is no possibility of the RJD seeking support of the Congress to form a government in case of a hung Assembly.
“We are going to pull off a spectacular victory and form a government on our own,” he said.
On Mr Singh’s statement, Mr Yadav said, “There is no truth in that. I have spoken to Singh. He has denied having made such a statement.”
Meanwhile, dismissing Congress accusations that the NDA government was responsible for the backwardness of the state, deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi said Mrs Sonia Gandhi should answer why the Centre was “scuttling” 25,000 MW power generation proposals by denying coal-linkages to Bihar.
He wondered as to why clearance was denied to the state for ethanol production and why the party was silent on the Kosi rehabilitation package.
Reacting to Mrs Gandhi’s charge that non-Congress governments have done nothing for the development of Bihar in the last 20 years, the BJP leader said that it was Congress which kept RJD “alive” for 15-years by lending it crucial support.
—PTI