Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar slammed the Congress on Thursday for not being concerned about the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) formed by the Opposition to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, and taking more interest in the upcoming Assembly elections in five states — Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram.
Nitish indicated that this not only compromised the pace of work in INDIA and has led to a failure to build on the momentum gained in the first few months but has also brought talks (on unity and seat-sharing) to a standstill.
“We talked with different parties, met in Patna and other places to form INDIA to save the country from those who are trying to change the history, and get rid of them. But not much work is happening now because the Congress is more interested in the polls in the five states,” Nitish said.
“All of us were working together to take the Congress ahead, but it is not worried about such things at present. They (Congress) are engaged in the elections in the five states.
“Therefore they will call others after the polls. No discussions are on right now. Let it be. I have been working to unite everybody and achieve freedom from those who are in power (at the Centre),” the JDU leader added.
He was speaking at a rally organised by the CPI in Patna with the slogan of “BJP hatao, desh bachao (remove the BJP, save the country)”. CPI general secretary D. Raja and other leaders, along with representatives from the CPM, the CPIML and the Congress were present, as was RJD leader and Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav.
