Sonia jibe at Nitish hots up Bihar poll war

Kishangunge, Bihar : Congress president Sonia Gandhi joined Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and son Rahul Gandhi to sharpen the attack on Nitish Kumar on Monday, questioning the secular credentials of the Bihar chief minister ahead of the staggered assembly polls beginning on Oct 21.

Questioning Kumar’s alliance with the “communal” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Sonia told at a rally in the Muslim populated Kishangunge: “Leaders who claim to be secular have actually joined hands with those forces who are staunchly against secularism.”

“These leaders think people have no memory, but that is wrong,” she said.

Calling Nitish Kumar an opportunistic leader, She said there was no development in the state in real terms.

She said there was no development in terms of schools, industry and power.

She said the little development in Bihar was all the credit of the Centre and not the state government.

She claimed the Centre has spent crores for the state’s development.

Earlier, lambasting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for ‘misleading’ the people by blaming the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government in Bihar for not utilising the Central funds properly, Nitish Kumar invited the PM to have a public debate on the issue.

?Sir, I will like to know from you the veracity of your charge….it is nothing but to mislead the people,?? Nitish Kumar said while addressing a joint press conference with Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley in Patna on Sunday.

Rebutting the charge that the state Government had failed to discharge its responsibilities for utilisation of the Central assistance worth Rs 1,000 crore since 2004, the Chief Minister said there was ?no substance?? in it.