What's your status in Cong: BJP slams Kharge for remarks on Nitish

The BJP on Wednesday hit out at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for describing Bihar CM Nitish Kumar as a burden on the ruling NDA coalition in the state and asked the Congress chief to introspect on his own position in the Congress.

Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "Do some introspection as to what is your own status in your party, where the levers of power are with someone else."

Prasad further said the CWC was being held in Bihar for the first time in 85 years. "This has been done by the Congress not for the love of Bihar, but for vested political gains," the BJP leader said, adding that late PM Jawaharlal Nehru had opposed the candidature of Bihar's son Rajendra Prasad as President and again opposed his renomination to the position.

Prasad also questioned the Congress' conduct against another son of Bihar soil, Jayaprakash Narayan, who led the anti-Emergency movement.

Prasad asked if the Congress loved Bihar so much, why did they stall the elevation of Babu Jagjivan Ram as India's PM. Noting that the Congress had convened CWC in Patna to assume the driver's seat in the poll-bound state, Prasad said the NDA would win with flying colours.

Earlier today, Kharge said in Patna, "Nitish Kumar has been mentally retired by the BJP. The BJP now considers him a burden."