<div align="justify">Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday openly challenged the BJP to hold simultaneous polls in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, if it wanted to test the party’s popularity.<br /><br /> Nitish’s reaction came a day after UP’s Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Sunday challenged Nitish in Patna saying that “if Bihar Assembly polls are held today, Nitish will be decimated.”<br /><br />“We are ready for it (Bihar polls). But hold simultaneous elections for UP and Bihar Assembly. Besides, ask all the BJP and other NDA MPs from these two States to resign and hold bypolls for these Lok Sabha seats too. The result will make things clear once and for all,” said Nitish, who has always maintained that Modi and his party swept to power in 2014 spreading falsehood and making hollow promises.<br /><br />The BJP earlier this year had won 325 out of 403 seats in UP Assembly. However, the party faced a rout in Bihar when Nitish and Lalu joined hands to give a crushing defeat to the BJP in 2015 elections.<br /><br />On BJP president Amit Shah using a derogatory term ‘Chatur Baniya’ for Mahatma Gandhi, Nitish said: “How does it affect Gandhi ji? The BJP has to decide what kind of image it wants to create for itself by making such disparaging remarks about the Father of the Nation.”<br /><br />On the impending presidential polls, Nitish said let the Modi Government take a call on the issue. “Let them decide first. If it’s a consensus candidate, we will welcome the move. Otherwise, we will decide (in five minutes) who will be the Opposition’s presidential candidate,” said Nitish on the sidelines of his official programme Lok Samvad here on Monday.</div>
<div align="justify">Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday openly challenged the BJP to hold simultaneous polls in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, if it wanted to test the party’s popularity.<br /><br /> Nitish’s reaction came a day after UP’s Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Sunday challenged Nitish in Patna saying that “if Bihar Assembly polls are held today, Nitish will be decimated.”<br /><br />“We are ready for it (Bihar polls). But hold simultaneous elections for UP and Bihar Assembly. Besides, ask all the BJP and other NDA MPs from these two States to resign and hold bypolls for these Lok Sabha seats too. The result will make things clear once and for all,” said Nitish, who has always maintained that Modi and his party swept to power in 2014 spreading falsehood and making hollow promises.<br /><br />The BJP earlier this year had won 325 out of 403 seats in UP Assembly. However, the party faced a rout in Bihar when Nitish and Lalu joined hands to give a crushing defeat to the BJP in 2015 elections.<br /><br />On BJP president Amit Shah using a derogatory term ‘Chatur Baniya’ for Mahatma Gandhi, Nitish said: “How does it affect Gandhi ji? The BJP has to decide what kind of image it wants to create for itself by making such disparaging remarks about the Father of the Nation.”<br /><br />On the impending presidential polls, Nitish said let the Modi Government take a call on the issue. “Let them decide first. If it’s a consensus candidate, we will welcome the move. Otherwise, we will decide (in five minutes) who will be the Opposition’s presidential candidate,” said Nitish on the sidelines of his official programme Lok Samvad here on Monday.</div>
