Rahul Gandhi’s claim on Bihar caste survey nonsensical: Nitish Kumar : The Tribune India

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Nitish Kumar

PTI

Patna, January 31

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday said Rahul Gandhi’s claim that the caste survey in the state was conducted under pressure from the Congress was “nonsensical”.

Talking to reporters three days after he dumped the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ in which the Congress is a constituent, and returned to the BJP-led NDA, Kumar also dismissed RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav’s claim that he had made Bihar CM work towards fulfilling the 10 lakh job promise.

The JD (U) president asserted that he did not like the nomenclature of the opposition bloc INDIA. “His (Rahul) claim that the caste survey in the state was done under pressure from the Congress is nonsensical. Everybody knows that the initiative was taken by me only. Now, people are taking credit,” Kumar said. Addressing a public rally in Purnea district as part of his ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’, Gandhi had on Tuesday claimed that Kumar was feeling trapped after getting a caste survey conducted under pressure from the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ partners and the BJP “provided him with a way out”.

The ‘Mahagathbandhan’ government in Bihar had, in October last year, released findings of its much-awaited caste survey, which revealed that Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) constitute a whopping 63 per cent of the state’s total population.

Commenting on the opposition bloc INDIA, Kumar said, “They were not doing anything... not even discussing about seat sharing. Frankly speaking, the name (INDIA) given to this alliance was not my choice at all. They decided on their own. Now, I have come back here (NDA). There is no question of going anywhere else”.

Asked about his views on the Enforcement Directorate’s action against Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and RJD leaders, the JD(U) supremo said, “The investigation agency is doing its work. There were charges against them…and the ED is investigating those cases.”

Enforcement Directorate officials on Wednesday reached Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s residence in Ranchi to question him in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam.