Nitish Kumar to lead NDA in upcoming Bihar polls: Amit Shah

VAISHALI ( BIHAR): BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday made an impassioned plea for the support of people of Bihar to measures taken by Narendra Modi government like the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

He also sought to dispel "rumours" of discord within the NDA in the state, asserting that assembly polls in Bihar will be contested under the leadership of chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Addressing a pro-CAA rally of the saffron party in this north Bihar district, Shah slammed the opposition for misleading minorities about the Act and engineering violence that had erupted in the aftermath.

Underscoring that the law provided for granting citizenship and not snatching it away from anybody, he said the party was organizing rallies across the country with a view to busting the misinformation campaign.

Shah sought support to the Modi governments measures like CAA as also abrogation of Article 370 and construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya.

"I want to dispel all rumours about our coalition (with Kumars JD(U). The elections will be contested under Nitish Kumars leadership, he declared.

"Lalu Prasad (RJD supremo), who is in jail in corruption cases, may go on dreaming that our coalition will come apart. But he should know that the NDA has led Bihar out of his lantern age (an allusion to RJDs poll symbol) to the LED era.

"The country and the state shall progress under the leadership of Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar respectively", the BJP chief said.

Shah had earlier stated in a couple of TV interviews that the chief minister (Nitish Kumar) will lead the NDA charge in the assembly polls this year.

This was, however, the first occasion for him to make a pronouncement to the effect on the soil of Bihar.

Those who shouted anti-India slogans at JNU a few years ago were sent to jail by Prime Minister Narendra Modi but (Arvind) Kejriwal has refused to initiate prosecution, Shah said taking a swipe at the Delhi chief minister.