Following resignation of Nitish Kumar as the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) Chief Minister of Bihar, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday said he "betrayed" people's mandate and called him "opportunisitc".
The comments from BJP come amid reports that Nitish has been elected as the leader of 'Mahagathbandhan' before staking claim to form new government in Bihar. The Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD)-led bloc has extended support to JD(U).
BJP Bihar chief Sanjay Jaiswal said Nitish played with public mandate and betrayed Bihar.
ANI quoted Jaiswal as saying, "We fought the 2020 polls together under NDA. The mandate was for JD-U and BJP. We won more seats, despite that Nitish Kumar was made the CM. Whatever happened today is a betrayal of Bihar's people and the BJP."
In separate comments, BJP leader and Union minister Ashwini Choubey on Tuesday accused Nitish of being "opportunistic" and said those "betraying" Bihar want to create obstacles in its development.
He said, "The BJP does not suppress anyone, does not betray anyone. Those people betraying Bihar want to create obstacles in its development. The development of Bihar has been a priority for us from Atal Bihari Vajpayee government to the Modi government. Despite having lesser seats, we made him [Nitish Kumar] chief minister. He has deceived the people twice. He is suffering from arrogance."
He further said, "Where is the talk of zero tolerance on corruption. He is opportunistic, he keeps looking for opportunities. This is my personal opinion."
Nitish met Governor Phagu Chauhan and tendered his resignation as chief minister of the NDA government in Bihar on Tuesday. He said the decision to sever ties with the NDA was taken by his party, the JD(U).
Nitish is expected to form the government with the support of the entire RJD-led Opposition. RJD is the single-largest party in Bihar assembly with 79 seats.
(With PTI inputs)
