BJP using Nitish till Bihar polls, will discard him and install own CM: Kanhaiya

Gaya Ji, Aug 19 (PTI) Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Tuesday claimed that the BJP's sole agenda is to use Nitish Kumar till the Bihar assembly elections and then "discard" him to install their own chief minister.

In an interview with PTI on the sidelines of the 'Voter Adhikar Yatra', Kumar claimed that the people of Bihar are still not ready to give direct leadership to the BJP and so it is attempting to form the government through the "backdoor".

He also launched a frontal attack on the Election Commission for "speaking the language of the BJP" and said that while the poll body stated that there is no "paksh (ruling side) or "vipaksh (opposition)" for it, what it really needs is to be "nishpaksh (impartial)".

"We want to tell the people of Bihar that the rule of votes means the rule of the common people. If you (Commission) take away the right to vote, then naturally you are turning 'democracy' into 'demokursi'," said the Congress leader, who is accompanying Gandhi on his 1,300 km yatra that will pass through more than 20 districts in Bihar and culminate with a rally in Patna on September 1.

Kumar also asserted that the misconception among alliance partners and opposition parties that the Congress gaining strength would not be conducive for them has been dispelled.

He said it is in the Congress' DNA to take everyone along, and that is why it has successfully run alliance governments, and that is now clear to everyone.

On whether the Mahagathbandhan would be able to form the government, the Congress leader said that in the last election, there was a difference of only 12,000 votes between the two alliances, and therefore, it is not right to say that the NDA is in a good position.

"Amit Shah ji had earlier said that all doors have been closed for Nitish Kumar, but again he (Shah) joined Nitish Kumar. The BJP knows that it cannot get a majority on its own. The BJP's only agenda is to use Nitish Kumar till the elections and then discard him to install their own chief minister," Kumar said.

"People of Bihar are still not ready to give direct leadership to the BJP, so there is an attempt to form the government through the backdoor. The more awareness we can spread and take these issues to the public, the more chances there are to form the Mahagathbandhan government," he said.

Speaking about the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, which the opposition has been vehemently protesting against, Kumar said the "crisis" has arisen because the Election Commission has created doubts in the minds of the people through its working methods.

He said that when Rahul Gandhi held a press conference with evidence and put forward the facts, then the Election Commission said there is a problem and an SIR is being done to correct it.

He asked under whose pressure the EC was refusing to take any action over the evidence provided by Gandhi, and how the language of the poll panel became the same as that of the BJP.

"Now the Election Commission is saying that the discrepancies in the voter list have to be removed, so it means that the Election Commission was lying earlier that everything is fine...for this, the Election Commission should apologise to the country," he told PTI.

"If everything was going well, then how did the names of dead people get added to the voters' list and why were the names of living people deleted?" he said, slamming the SIR exercise in Bihar.

The Congress leader alleged that when the issue of rigging is being raised before the EC, it is talking about irrelevant things.

Referring to the press conference of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Kanhaiya Kumar said, "The Election Commission has been saying that how can it give CCTV footage because it is a matter of privacy. What bedroom data are we asking for? We are asking for polling booth data only." It seems that the EC is trying to prove the opposition wrong and create confusion in the minds of the people about them, he said.

Asked whether Gandhi had given a message by putting RJD's Tejashwi Yadav in the driving seat of the jeep when the yatra began in Sasaram, Kumar said, "My view of society is a little different. A doctor is as important to a hospital as a sweeper. A conductor is as important as a driver. A tyre is as important as the steering." "Politics is a field of collective effort. This is a joint effort of the Mahagathbandhan. This is an effort to protect democracy. Rahul ji's role is also important in this, as is Tejashwi ji's role and that of other leaders of the Mahagathbandhan," he said.

To a pointed question as to whether Tejashwi Yadav would be the front-runner to be the chief minister if the Mahagathbandhan wins the polls, Kumar said democracy has its own processes and the first priority of the Mahagathbandhan is to get a majority.

"After that, the people of the Mahagathbandhan will sit together and decide. Everything is happening gradually; everything will happen smoothly in the future, too. There is no restlessness or hurry here. The restlessness that the media is not able to see is there in the NDA alliance. We hope that the joint efforts will help us get the majority and our government will be formed," Kumar said.

Hailing Gandhi's efforts to raise issues of the people and taking up the fight for the marginalised, Kumar, who was once a Left leader, said, "When I became active in politics in school and college, I used to criticise the Congress. But today I am doing my third yatra with Rahul Gandhi ji. If someone fights for the rights of the people, you will stand in his support." Voting is set to take place across the 243 Assembly constituencies in Bihar in October or November. PTI ASK RHL RHL