PATNA: Former MP Anand Mohan’s reported invite to CM Nitish Kumar to unveil the statue of his father late Ram Bahadur Singh, a freedom fighter, at his native village in Saharsa triggered fresh war of words between the two ruling Grand Alliance partners—the RJD and the JD(U)—on Tuesday.
According to media reports, the CM is likely to visit Anand’s village on October 27 although this has not been officially confirmed so far.
Anand has been the target of RJD’s attack right since he threatened to pull out tongue of party’s Rajya Sabha Member Manoj Jha after he read out a poem “Thakur Ka Kuan” during the debate over Women’s Reservation Bill to illustrate his point which the former found it as an affront to Thakur or Rajput community, sparking controversy in state politics.
Although the programme about Nitish’s proposed visit to Saharsa is yet to be officially confirmed, RJD MLC Sunil Kumar Singh took a dig at the former over this issue, linking it with the “will-pull-out-your-tongue” threat earlier issued to Jha by Anand.
“Our Sahabji is to visit the native village of the Bhai Sahab who threatened to pull out the tongue of an honourable RS Member who won the Best Parliamentarian’s Award’ this year. This is aimed at boosting his morale and glorifying him,” RJD MLC Singh who is considered very close to RJD chief Lalu Prasad wrote in his Facebook post, in an oblique reference to the CM.
“So, what’s this relation, all about? Pl guess,” Singh asked, and then himself described it as “Sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet; sometimes soft and at times hard.”
Singh’s comment invited bitter reactions from JD(U) general secretary Nikhil Mandal who termed the former as “Aglagauna” (arsonist). “Jitna bada ye tower hai, usse bhi bada yahan ek aglagauna rahta hai. Bujhon to jane…(Taller than this tower, lives an arsonist here. Pl guess),” Mandal reacted through his Facebook post while also posting a photograph of BISCOMAUN tower. Curiously, Singh happens to be the chairman of BISCOMAUN, Patna.
Asked for comments, state RJD spokesperson Shakti Singh Yadav tried to play safe, refusing to accept Singh’s “personal Facebook comments” as party’s official line.
“The RJD has nothing to do with such personal comments of a party leader. Our Grand Alliance functions under the Common Minimum Programmes (CMP), and Nitish Kumar and Tejahswi Yadav have been leading the government,” Yadav said, adding everyone is free to invite any person at his function.
