Friend or foe? RJD, Congress accuse Amit Shah of 'pressure politics' in Bihar, defends CM Nitish Kumar

A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in Maharashtra that the BJP is adept at maintaining the coalition dharma, as has been done in Bihar where it made Nitish Kumar the Chief Minister again despite JD(U)’s poor show, the Opposition in Bihar has sympathised with Nitish and defended him.

The principal Opposition party - the RJD, and its alliance partner Congress have slammed Shah for doing “pressure politics” in Bihar and not allowing Nitish Kumar to expand his Cabinet although it’s more than three months since he has donned the mantle of chief ministership in November 2020.

Nitish has often put the blame on the BJP for not expanding his Cabinet which has merely 13 ministers although, as per the Constitutional provisions, there could be 36 ministers in Bihar which has a 243-member Assembly.

Amit Shah, while taking a jibe at Uddhav Thackeray on Maharashtra Assembly poll results of 2019, had said on Sunday that BJP was known to fulfil its promises to its alliance partners. It was in this context that Shah cited the case of Bihar where the BJP made Nitish CM despite saffron camp winning 30 seats more than the JD (U).

But the JD(U)’s arch-rival, the RJD came out in defence of Nitish on Monday. “Merely making someone the chief minister is not the issue. The point is whether Nitish has been given a free hand to run the government. By imposing two Dy CMs on day one, the BJP made its intention clear who was in the driver’s seat,” said RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwary.

The Congress spokesperson Rajesh Rathore too echoed similar sentiments. “Amit Shah should also tell people whether the BJP will fulfil the poll promise of providing jobs to 19 lakh persons in Bihar,” the Congress leader averred.