BJP today criticised the resignation Nitish Kumar and accused him of foisting a ‘dummy’ chief minister to run Bihar.
“After rout in the general elections, Nitish Kumar has chosen a good escape route to foist a dummy chief minister as the Congress did by appointing Manmohan Singh to run the government through remote control,” senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi told reporters here.
The former deputy chief minister also said “he did this to escape the embarrassment of shaking hands and presenting bouquets to Narendra Modi who is all set to become the Prime Minister.
“Sonia Gandhi’s efforts to run government through Manmohan Singh or Lalu Prasad running the government through the back door by propping up wife Rabri Devi in the chief minister’s chair only drew people’s ire against them,” he said.
Modi said if Kumar was left with any morality, he should clearly announce that he would have no truck with Congress and RJD against whom he as leader of NDA fought to end “misrule” in the state.
He defended his claim of 50 JD(U) MLAs being in touch with BJP and working for the victory of party candidates in just-concluded Lok Sabha elections and said he however would not destabilise the Nitish Kumar government.
He said the JD(U) government was facing widespread dissension and would fall on its own.
Leader of the Opposition Nand Kishore Yadav claimed that Kumar had resigned and brought forward another person to face the people’s ire as he knew he could not fulfil his promises before assembly elections in the state in 2015.
He also alleged Kumar’s lust for the chair had not ended as he had announced that he would assume chief ministership if his party received the people’s support in 2015 assembly polls.
State BJP President Mangal Pandey said the party was not in favour of mid-term election in the state.