Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said on Monday said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s return to the NDA fold will not affect the opposition INDIA alliance and claimed the Congress was in favour of appointing Kumar as the convener of the opposition bloc.
Speaking to the reporters here, Raut dubbed Nitish Kumar as “Paltu Ram”.
JD(U) president Nitish Kumar on Sunday took oath as the chief minister of Bihar for a record ninth time after a dramatic volte-face, ditching the Mahagathbandhan and the opposition bloc INDIA and forming a new government with the BJP, which he had dumped less than 18 months ago.
Raut said the way Kumar left the INDIA bloc is unfortunate.
“But if someone thinks that the exit of Nitish Kumar will create a rift in the national (INDIA) alliance, then it is not correct. In fact, the organisation gets tougher if such people leave, and the INDIA bloc will also become stronger,” the Rajya Sabha member said.
“There is Tejashwi Yadav (of RJD who was the deputy CM of Bihar until Kumar walked out of the alliance), there is the Congress, and some other parties, and they will make the INDIA bloc stronger,” he said.