Presidential Election 2017: Sushil Kumar says Bihar BJP correcting mistakes by backing Ram Nath Kovind

Patna: Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Sunday claimed that Bihar chief minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar has started “correcting his mistakes” by extending support to Ram Nath Kovind, the NDA’s presidential nominee.

“Actually, Nitish Kumar has begun to correct his mistakes by extending his support to Kovind,” Modi said countering RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s statement that Nitish Kumar has committed a “historic blunder” by extending his support to Kovind.

The RJD chief had on 22 June said that its ally the JD(U)’s call to support NDA presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind was “a wrong decision”, adding he would appeal to Nitish Kumar not to commit “a historic blunder”.

On 23 June, the RJD chief and opposition parties had also appealed to Kumar to reconsider the JD(U)’s support to Kovind but he stood his ground.

Stating that “emergency” was a black spot in the nation’s history, Sushil Modi, former deputy chief minister of Bihar said that the Congress cannot absolve of its “sin” of proclaiming emergency on 25 June, 1975 by the then Indira Gandhi government to just remain in power.

The then Indira Gandhi government not only put Jay Prakash Narayan and other opposition leaders in jail but also inflicted torture on Narayan which led to his untimely demise, he claimed. He also added, “Nitish Kumar, who is a disciple of Narayan, did a “historic mistake” when he aligned with the Congress which proclaimed emergency in the country.”

Veteran socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia and other socialist leaders fought with the Congress all through their lives but his disciples have now joined hands with the same Congress party, he said and advised them (Lohia’s disciples) to consider their relations with the Congress.

Even Jagjivan Ram, the father of UPA’s presidential candidate Meira Kumar, felt “suffocated” in the Congress and left the party after the Emergency, the senior BJP leader said and claimed that it was the Janata Party government, of which Jan Sangha was a part, which honoured Jagjivan Ram by making him the deputy prime minister.