Nitish, a U-turn leader, RCP singh after joining BJP

Former Union Minister and ex-JDU president RCP Singh has joined the BJP at party headquarters in New Delhi on Thursday. Singh joined the party in the presence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and other senior party leaders. Pradhan said, Singh's joining the BJP will strengthen the party in Bihar.  Soon after joining the BJP, Singh hit out the Bihar chief minister “I have always maintained that he is PM - but in Nitish Kumar’s case it stands for ‘Palti-Mar’ (U-turn). Imagine how many times he has made U-turn. And for what? For his personal ambition only. The BJP helped him fight against the RJD misrule since 2005 and he has again landed up with them. He did the same in 2013 and I had opposed the move then also. His Opposition-unity move is a sham just to keep him afloat even if it costs the state and its people dearly,” he added.

Singh added that Kumar compromised on the growth potential of Bihar as a state. “First, have you seen a CM who is moving to three states in three days, while his own state is struggling on all fronts? He says the Narendra Modi government is doing nothing. Well, how come India has become the 5th largest economy in the world from 10th in 2014, while Bihar has remained at the bottom of the ladder. The mandate to the NDA government he headed as CM was to bring Bihar back on track and establish the rule of law. He has compromised both. His concern is confined to keeping his chair intact. He should answer for Bihar. Before every election, there is a move for Opposition unity, but it is never able to decide on one leader,” he added.

Singh quit the JD (U) last year following sharp differences with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar after the JD (U) sought a reply from him on allegations of corruption related to ‘discrepancies in immovable properties’. The former Cabinet minister, who had to resign from the Modi government after the JD(U) did not nominate him to Rajya Sabha for a fresh term last year, took potshots at Kumar for his efforts to forge unity among the opposition ranks.Kumar was given the mandate of Bihar’s development but he has been travelling from one state to another, Singh said.