Tolerated them a lot, ran out of patience: Nitish on RJD
Talking about his two-year alliance with Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said, "I didn't have a choice, I tolerated them a lot." Nitish further said, "Though this happens in an alliance, but I ran out of patience. Lalu ji kept defending his son and never spoke up for me."
In his first press conference after his dramatic alliance with the BJP last week, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said Narendra Modi will return as India's Prime Minister in 2019 since there is nobody to take him on. "Nobody in India has the capacity to take on Modi ji," he said. After the sudden break-up with Lalu Prasad's RJD over corruption allegations last week, Nitish aligned again with the BJP and formed a coalition government on July 27. In 2013, he had ended his 17-year-old alliance with the BJP over Modi's nomination as the party's prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha election.Nitish claimed the offer to form the government came from the BJP. "The proposal came from the BJP's top leadership. The Prime Minister tweeted as well," he said, referring to Modi's tweet congratulating him on taking a stand against corruption by his resignation.  ON DUMPING LALUDefending his decision to dump Lalu, Nitish said he "put up with a lot" during his two-year alliance with Lalu Prasad's RJD and claimed he had no option but to call it off. "I didn't have a choice, I tolerated them a lot. Though this happens in an alliance, but I ran out of patience," he said, referring to the allegations of corruption against Lalu and his family, mainly son Tejashwi Yadav, who was Nitish's deputy in the former Bihar government. "Lalu ji kept defending his son and never spoke up for me," Nitish said. "They should have gone to the people and explained the allegations against them," he said."After the cabinet meeting, Tejashwi asked me what to explain. I told him that I don't have much experience about property, deposit, land etc. I just told him to clarify his stand on the allegations. Merely saying that it is political vendetta may be good for your supporters, but for common people, it was not sufficient," he said as he narrated the events leading to his resignation on July 25.JD-U DIVIDED"I don't agree with the decision in Bihar. It is unfortunate," Yadav told reporters outside Parliament."The mandate of the people (in Bihar in 2015) was not for this," the Rajya Sabha member said on Nitish Kumar's decision to break the JD-U's alliance with the Grand Alliance of the RJD and the Congress in the state.