BJP MLA Vikram Kunwar, who joined the JDU on Monday, put his new party on a sticky wicket during a media interaction.
Kunwar, who switched sides after being denied a BJP ticket, in his zeal to praise Nitish Kumar, said that people should look at Nitish and not Lalu while casting their vote.
The MLA from Raghunathpur in Siwan, a Rajput by caste who has been a bitter Lalu critic, also urged upper caste people to vote for the Grand Alliance. Sensing the turning ball, JDU president Bashishtha Narayan Singh immediately went onto the backfoot and maintained that Kunwar didn't mean anything against Lalu.
Kunwar (65) was explaining the reasons behind leaving the BJP and joining the JDU.
"Development of Bihar can only take place under the leadership of Nitish, and I like his thinking. I will try my level best to defeat the BJP in my constituency. I will say that do not look at Lalu, just see Nitish ji. I will especially request the upper caste to vote for Nitishji," said Kunwar.
The three-term MLA had first won the elections in 1977 on a Janata Party ticket. He was also a minister during the Lalu-Rabri regime, when he had won the Raghunathpur Assembly constituency on an RJD ticket in 1995. He quit the party to join the BJP in 2007.
Sensing that Kunwar's words could damage the image of the Grand Alliance, Bashishtha quickly swung into action and took the microphone, asking journalists not to read too much into Kunwar's words.
"His comment should not be taken in the context of anything. He meant to say that as Nitish ji is the chief ministerial face of the Grand Alliance, people should vote for Nitish. Don't you see what is going on in the BJP? Senior leaders like R.K. Singh and Chhedi Paswan are raising fingers over ticket distribution in the party," said Bashishtha.
A few days ago, Kunwar had levelled serious charges against the BJP leadership and had said that his ticket was sold for Rs 2 crore.
On Monday, he iterated that he was denied a ticket by the BJP without any proper explanation, and demanded a lie-detector test on BJP state unit president Mangal Pandey and Manoj Singh, who the party has fielded from Raghunathpur.
Kunwar said his father, Jagdish Kunwar, was a gateman at Regent theatre and always remained dedicated and loyal to the party. He added that he had joined the party on the instructions of BJP patriarch the late Kailashpati Mishra, but it ditched him.
"I challenge, let the BJP state president and Manoj Singh face the lie-detector test. Things will become clear who has given how much money. Everyone knows the background of Manoj, he is a sharpshooter of Mohammad Shahabuddin," said Kunwar.
Shahabuddin, the former MP of Siwan, is an RJD leader and was shifted to Bhagalpur jail from Siwan jail by the Election Commission to prevent him from influencing the electoral process.
Kunwar, who was accompanied by JDU MLC Ranveer Nandan and spokesperson Nihora Yadav, accused that contractors and middlemen are running the BJP.
As a BJP man, Kunwar had always attacked Lalu and Nitish and raised his voice against the "jungle raj " government during the Assembly session. However, when The Telegraph asked Kunwar what made him to join the party he has been criticising for years, he replied: "I never called the Lalu-Rabri regime jungle raj; show me the proof."
