Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was on Sunday trolled on social media for predicting that the NDA will win "more than 4,000 seats", several times the sanctioned strength of Lok Sabha.
Kumar, who heads the JD(U) and returned to the BJP-led coalition less than three months ago, made the faux pas at a rally in Nawada district where he spoke before Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a portion of his speech that has gone viral, Kumar can be heard fumbling "char lakh (four lakh)", before correcting himself and uttering "char hazaar se bhi zyada (more than 4,000)", while turning towards the PM whom he has been wishing a "400 plus tally" in the elections.
Predictably, many RJD leaders, including its spokesperson Sarika Paswan, shared the video of Kumar who had lambasted the party's president Lalu Prasad and the latter's wife Rabri Devi for their alleged dismal performance as chief ministers of Bihar. "The chief minister wanted to wish more than four lakh MPs to the PM. Then he probably thought it would be too much and 4,000 would be sufficient," Paswan wrote on X in a post in Hindi.
In another video, Kumar appeared to bend towards the PM's feet with arms outstretched, before greeting him with folded hands. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who served as Kumar's deputy whenever his party shared power with JD(U), said he felt "anguish" over the conduct of his former boss. "I was aghast to see a photo in which Nitish Kumar can be seen touching the feet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is such an elderly person. Has been a chief minister for so long. Few of his counterparts have had such a long tenure," said Yadav.
Twisting the knife, the young leader said, "Was not Narendra Modi the same person whom Nitish ji often accused of deviating from the conciliatory path of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani? Had he not cancelled a dinner to which the then Gujarat CM was invited and returned the financial aid offered by the western state?"
Yadav, who lost his job as Bihar Deputy CM as a result of the JD(U) chief's latest volte-face, was referring to the once famous rivalry between Kumar and Modi which had led the Bihar CM to snap ties with BJP, for the first time, after his then Gujarat counterpart's ascent on the national stage seemed inevitable.
On the wrong side of 70, Kumar, the longest-serving chief minister of Bihar, has been in the news for slips of the tongue on a few occasions. His earlier reference to himself as a former union home minister was ridiculed by the BJP, which was then in the opposition and had alleged that the veteran leader was betraying senility. Meanwhile, JD(U) leaders declined to comment on the Nawada episode. (With Agency inputs)
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