Nitish cutting a 'sorry figure', should quit NDA: AAP

The Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday said that the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was cutting a "sorry figure" as he was being made to "beg" before the BJP for a respectable share of seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and urged the JD(U) president to do a rethink on his return to the NDA.

The party's Bihar in-charge Sanjay Singh also attacked the Narendra Modi government for trying to "fool" the people of the state by claiming that money spent on national highways passing through the state was part of a special package for Bihar.

He also charged the Prime Minister with failure to give due respect to leaders from the state who had allied with him.

Nitish Kumar had betrayed the mandate of 2015 assembly polls by walking out of the Grand Alliance and returning to the BJP-led NDA. But, today he is cutting a sorry figure. He is begging before the BJP for a respectable seat-sharing arrangement, Singh said.

And ever since his return to the NDA, his image of a good administrator has taken a beating with crimes against women has become a routine affair, added the member of AAP's political affairs committee.

Singh said the BJP was busy describing the current political situation in the country as Modi vs all and was reluctant to acknowledge the role of its allies.

While being photographed, Modi likes the entire focus to be on himself. He feels uncomfortable sharing the space with Nitish Kumar and Union ministers like Ram Vilas Paswan. It is traits like these, besides the vindictiveness of which we have been at the receiving end in Delhi, that makes AAP feel that BJP has to be fought and defeated, Singh said.

We are appalled to hear that the Modi government is of the view that money spent on national highways and other similar projects which cover other states also are being dished out as part of a special package, he said.

It should cover only some specific demands of the people conveyed by the state government. The Modi government is cheating the people of Bihar. It is high time that Nitish Kumar did a rethink on his political collaboration, he added.

The AAPs in-charge of Bihar also alleged that BJP leaders in the state had indulged in irregular land transactions on a huge scale prior to demonetization.

He also distributed copies of one such alleged transaction in Begusarai district where a piece of disputed land was bought by BJP leaders.

One of the claimants to the land was brought to the press meet where he alleged that he was being pressurized by BJP leaders to give up his claim on the land to facilitate its transfer in favour of the party, which wanted to build its office there.