JD(U) flays BJP’s Samrat Choudhary for ‘insulting’ Nitish

Patna, Oct 11 (PTI) Bihar’s ruling JD(U) on Wednesday lambasted BJP state president Samrat Choudhary for making “personal remarks” and “insulting” Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Choudhary, who has had a meteoric rise in the BJP, which he had joined barely six years ago, got riled when Kumar spoke of the former's stints in the JD(U) and the RJD.

The chief minister had been asked by journalists about the allegations by Choudhary that the caste survey report had been doctored to suit the "MY" combination of the RJD, which helms the multi-party ruling coalition.

Kumar, who spoke in presence of Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, younger son and heir apparent of RJD president Lalu Prasad, did not give a direct reply to the allegation, but launched into a tirade against Choudhary.

"The one whose name you people are taking, his father got his due respect from me," fumed Kumar, and pointing towards Yadav, added, "His father made him a minister and an MLA. He left that party and came to me. I made him a minister again. He left me, too. He keeps changing his party every now and then. The media should not expect me to react to what he speaks".

Notably, Choudhary's father Shakuni, now retired from public life, had enjoyed terms in the Lok Sabha as well as the state assembly on tickets of Samata Party, the name by which the JD(U) was known earlier.

In 1999, Shakuni Choudhary shifted his loyalty towards the RJD and was rewarded with a cabinet berth for Samrat Choudhary in the Rabri Devi government.

Samrat Choudhary remained with the RJD till 2014 when he led a split in the party and joined the JD(U) government of Jitan Ram Manjhi.

When journalists approached Samrat Choudhary with questions on the outbursts of Kumar, in whose cabinet he had served until the JD(U) supremo called off the alliance, the BJP leader pulled no punches.

"Nitish Kumar has betrayed the ‘Luv-Kush’ samaj, to which he owes his standing. He has struck a compromise with Lalu Prasad and agreed to pass the baton to the latter’s son,” he alleged.

In Bihar's political lexicon, ‘Luv-Kush is a term used to denote Kurmis, the caste to which Kumar himself belongs, and Koeris/Kushwahas who have, over the years, remained supporters of the JD(U).

Samrat Choudhary, who is himself a Koeri, added, "What is this talk of Kumar having given respect to my father, who is at least 20 years his senior. Before joining politics, my father was in the armed forces. He was fighting wars for the nation when Kumar must have been a kid moving around in his shorts".

The BJP leader also made a close to the bone reference to memorials erected in memory of Kumar's father and wife, saying, "We donated our own land for commemorating my mother. But, Kumar has used public land".

JD(U) leaders, meanwhile, lashed out at the 54-year-old Choudhary for "personal remarks" against the septuagenarian chief minister.

"Samrat Choudhary should mind his language and remember that Nitish Kumar has been active in politics for 46 years. Nobody in the BJP, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, has such a wealth of experience,” state minister Shravan Kumar told reporters at the JD(U) office.

State JD(U) president Umesh Singh Kushwaha issued a statement, accusing his BJP counterpart of "bringing into disrepute the post he holds by personal and insulting remarks about a spotless leader like Kumar". PTI NAC RBT