With less than a week left for Verdict 2009, the BJP-led NDA on Sunday got Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar to launch a scathing attack on the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre, for ?step-motherly treatment towards the state in the wake of the Kosi floods?. In a show of strength ahead of the final phase of polling on May 13, Nitish shared the dais with Gujarat CM Narendra Modi ? something he had been careful to avoid so far ? and the NDA showcased the latest addition to the alliance, TRS?s K Chandrasekhar Rao.
Amid attempts by the Congress and the Left to woo Nitish, the Bihar CM launched a blistering attack on the Congress-led UPA. ?In the wake of the Kosi floods, the Prime Minister came to Bihar where we demanded an immediate relief of Rs 1,000 cr. The Centre had said the amount had been sanctioned. In less than 20 minutes of completion of the polls in the Kosi belt in the state, we were asked to return the amount sanctioned by the Centre. There cannot be a greater injustice than this,? said Nitish, as he asked Bihari migrants in the state to ?avenge this act of injustice on May 13.?
Advani took off from where the Bihar CM had left. ?How can the PM renege on the promise he made to the state??
The show of strength stood out because of Modi, who posed with Nitish on stage, referred to the Bihar CM as ?Hamare apne Nitish Kumar? and curiously, counted Lohia, apart from JP and Deendayal Upadhyay as his ideological mentors.