Nitish accuses BJP of 'cornering' elders in party

Wading into BJP politics, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today accused his estranged ally of "betraying" and "cornering" elders in the party in an oblique reference to the sidelining of L K Advani over the Narendra Modi issue.

"Those who have betrayed and cornered their own elders have no right to point fingers at others. Those who cannot respect their elders and sideline them within the party have no right to blame us," Kumar told reporters emerging from his "Janata ke darbar me Mukhya Mantri" programme at his residence here.

Advani was miffed over Modi being anointed the party's campaign commitee chief, an event that triggered the split within the NDA with the JD(U) seeing this as the first step before the Gujarat Chief Minister is named as BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Asked whether the fate of veteran socialist leader George Fernandes within JD(U) was similar to that of Advani, Kumar said, "It's not true...he (Fernandes) is bed-ridden and we every now and then visit him to know about his health."

Some of his so called well wishers advised him to fight the 2009 Lok Sabha elections (from Muzaffarpur in Bihar) despite his ill health. These well wishers ran away from him after his defeat."

"Later I approached him and asked if he would like to go to Rajya Sabha to which he agreed and accordingly JD(U) sent him to the Upper House," he said adding, "JD(U) believes in respecting elders."

Rejecting BJP's charge of betrayal, Kumar blamed the saffron party for "creating an environment" in which his party had to leave the NDA and criticised it for misinterpreting his old speech at a Railway function in Gujarat in Modi's favour.

"Kya vishwasghat kiya (what betrayal have we done). They have actually betrayed us by creating an environment in which our staying with them was not possible," he said.