Patna/New Delhi, Nov. 1: The AICC general secretary, Mr Rahul Gandhi, should be a Chief Minister first before aspiring to become the Prime Minister, the JD-U leader and Bihar Chief Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, said attacking Mr Gandhi for his allegations of corruption in implementation of development schemes in Bihar.
“I have a simple advice for Rahul Gandhi. Instead of giving lectures on development in Bihar, he should first become a Chief Minister to learn what governance is all about before aspiring to be Prime Minister,” Mr Kumar said.
In a counter offensive to Mr Kumar’s remarks, the Congress on Monday reminded the JD(U) leader that he was a Union minister under Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, who had never been a Chief Minister before becoming the Prime Minister.
Not taking Mr Kumar’s comment on the Congress leader lightly, the AICC spokesperson, Mr Shakeel Ahmed, said, “The JD(U) leader should remember that he had the longest stint in the Union Cabinet during Atal Behari Vajpayee’s tenure. By making such a comment on our leader, he actually is making mockery and casting aspersion on his own leader (Mr Vajpayee).” He wondered, if Mr Kumar was questioning the competence of Mr Vajpayee.
Mr Ahmed said that he would also like to remind the Bihar chief minister that at least four most successful Congress Prime Ministers had also never been the Chief Ministers of any state. “Pandit Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi never became Chief Ministers of any state,” he added.
Fear prevailed in many areas during Bihar’s fourth phase of Assembly polls on Monday due to bomb blasts and the Maoists’ diktat for poll boycott, but an average 51 per cent voting was registered in the eight south-eastern and central districts where polling was conducted for 42 constituencies.