Rajiv Pratap Rudy at the news meet in Patna on Thursday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

BJP general secretary and Rajya Sabha member Rajiv Pratap Rudy took on Nitish Kumar on Thursday, claiming that the chief minister was power hungry and had been manipulating situations to remain in command.

Rudy said Nitish suffered from “NaMonia”, describing his antipathy to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, and called on him explain his sudden change of stance.

“In 2004, Nitish had praised Narendra Modi, calling him the biggest leader of the BJP and praising his rise from humble origins. Nitish had said Modi was a leader from an Extremely Backward Classes,” said Rudy, citing a letter of dissident JD(U) leader Prem Kumar Mani.

He added: “At that time, Modi was secular for Nitish but now he has become communal? People want to know about the sudden shift in Nitish’s stand about Modi.”

Nitish broke off the 17-year-old alliance between NDA partners — JD(U) and BJP — on June 16, citing the anointment of Modi as the chief of his party’s electoral campaign committee as the prime reason. Rudy today said Nitish and the JD(U) would soon realise their mistake and would have to pay the price for disrespecting the mandate given to the NDA government in the 2010 Assembly elections.

“The people of state had voted to neither for the BJP nor the JD(U) alone but to the NDA in 2005 and 2010. The people wanted to get rid of the Lalu-Rabri regime. But Nitish, by snapping ties with the BJP, has cheated the people of Bihar,” added Rudy.

Referring to the support of four Congress legislators during the confidence vote yesterday, Rudy said Nitish’s new ally was BJP’s arch-rival.

“The people of Bihar will not pardon Nitish for his unprincipled and unholy alliance,” he said.