Sushil Kumar Modi blames Nitish Kumar for breaking alliance with NDA

PATNA: Observing that Bihar has missed yet another opportunity to fast track development due to the state government's confrontationist attitude towards the Centre, former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi today squarely blamed his erstwhile boss Nitish Kumar for breaking alliance with the NDA.
"It's due to Kumar's stubborn attitude and his unilateral decision to break alliance with the NDA that Bihar has missed the bus yet again to fast track development," he said in a statement.

Had the senior JD(U) leader not parted ways with the NDA last year, the ruling coalition at the Centre and in Bihar would have been the same and it would have worked wonders for development of the state, Modi said.

Kumar did not stop at breaking alliance with the NDA last year, but went on to resign from the chief minister's post to steer clear of any situation that would have compelled him to greet the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, shake hands with him or to write letter to the Centre, the former deputy chief minister said and regretted that his erstwhile boss left behind a government which was bent on haggling with the Centre on one issue or another.

Modi said that it would have paid rich dividends if the governments at the Centre and in Bihar had been represented by the same coalition parties but the senior JD(U) leader robbed us of such a scenario.

It has been the misfortune of Bihar and its people that governments at the Centre and in the state over the past few decades were represented by different political parties or coalitions which somehow never shared the same wavelength, he said, adding it has worked to the disadvantage of Bihar.

The senior BJP leader also took a dig at Kumar for his efforts to work out anti-NDA coalition at the national level and said that the former chief minister has compromised with his principles by first aligning with the fodder scam convict and the RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and then meeting with the former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, who too has been convicted in a scam.

Stating that it was imperative that Bihar must get a government that can seek cooperation with the Centre and not adopt a confrontationist attitude with it, Modi exuded confidence that the NDA will come to power in next year's Assembly polls and step up development in the state in partnership with the central government.