In message for Modi, Nitish says India made ‘rapid progress’ under Atal

At the event, after garlanding a statue of Vajpayee, Nitish said: “The country made huge progress under Atal-ji. He had given me great opportunity to work as a minister of three departments. Whenever I went to him with any proposal, he would approve it. He valued and respected me, and was very affectionate.”

Even though Bihar has organised Vajpayee’s birth anniversary as state function since 2019, the Nitish Kumar-led government organising it assumes political significance, especially in light of Nitish’s bitter parting with the saffron party and return to the Mahagathbandhan. This, however, isn’t the first time Nitish has invoked Vajpayee to draw a comparison between the BJP under the late leader and the party now under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Even while snapping ties with BJP this August, he had spoken about the “two BJPs”.

A senior JD(U) leader said: “Nitish has always praised Atal-ji because he rose to political heights during his tenure as PM. He is now using Atal-ji more as a political symbolism to score over Narendra Modi.”

Agreeing, a senior BJP leader said, “Whether it was approving the Barh NTPC project or projecting Nitish as the CM face in 2005 Assembly polls, Atal-ji had always treated Nitish Kumar with great warmth and respect.”

BJP OBC Morcha national general secretary and party spokesperson Nikhil Anand told The Indian Express: “Whatever Nitish Kumar is today is due to the BJP…. But he broke the alliance with BJP twice — and the second time without showing the basic courtesy to inform our top leadership…”

He said an attempt to score political points lies behind Nitish’s “praise of Atal-ji”.