In a sharp retort to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on the Bihar caste survey on Tuesday, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday accused the Congress MP of trying to take credit for something he has not done.

Talking to the media today, Nitish Kumar said, “Isse badhkar koi faltu cheez hai? (Can there be a more nonsensical claim?) Has he forgotten when the caste census happened? I conducted it in the presence of nine parties. In 2019-2020, I would talk about caste census everywhere, from assembly to public meetings. I also met the Prime Minister. I did it. They (Congress) were on the other side then. If someone tries to take false credit… Let it be.”

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In a scathing attack on the Bihar Chief Minister, days after he parted ways with the RJD and Congress and rejoined the NDA, Rahul Gandhi claimed that Kumar wriggled out of the Opposition bloc because he felt “trapped” after the caste survey.

“You need to understand that Nitish Kumar was feeling trapped after the Congress and RJD ensured that a caste survey was held. The BJP provided him with a way out,” he said at a rally in Bihar’s Purnea.

On Sunday (January 28), Kumar announced the end of the 17-month-old coalition government run by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), Congress and Left parties. Hours later, he joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and took oath as chief minister for the third time in four years, and ninth time since 2005.

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‘Tried hard, couldn’t do anything’

The Bihar Chief Minister doubled down on his earlier charge that there was no forward movement within the INDIA bloc for the upcoming elections.

“I was trying so hard. They did not do even one thing. Till today, they haven’t decided which party will contest how many seats. This is why I left them and came back to who I was with initially. I will keep working for the people of Bihar,” said Kumar, who was at the forefront of bringing Opposition parties under one umbrella to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

He further mentioned that he had urged the Congress and other members of the Opposition’s alliance to not name the political group ‘Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance or INDIA’.

“I was urging them to choose another name for the alliance. But they had already finalised it” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.