(Top) Nitish Kumar and Pawan Bansal

Patna, May 6: Fastening the seat belt would have saved Lalu Prasad from the bruises, feels Nitish Kumar, without going into details why he chose not to call the RJD chief.

“Jankari to tab li jati hai jab haal kharab ho (Enquiry is needed when something is seriously wrong). I had gathered information about how he was,” said the chief minister on the sidelines of the weekly janata durbar, adding jokingly: “He should have obeyed traffic rules to travel safe.”

His smiles did not fade while saying: “Being an occupant to the front seat, he could fasten the seat belt.”

On the other hand, Nitish toed the line of party chief Sharad Yadav, differing with ally BJP on the Pawan Bansal issue. Asked if the railway minister should resign in the wake of bribery charges on his nephew, Nitish said: “Tendering resignation is up to the individual. But the incident is shocking.”

Again at variance with the BJP, which has alleged that Bansal could influence the CBI probe if he remains railway minister, the chief minister sounded like defending Bansal.

“The CBI or other investigating agencies were, of course, at the disposal of the government. But it does not necessarily mean the investigations could be influenced.”

On his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi, recently being quoted as saying that his party (the BJP) would not accept other party or parties issuing a “veto” on the prime ministerial candidate, Nitish said: “Alliances do not work on employing veto. They work on mutual cooperation.”

He also said his statement was made at a JD(U) forum. “He (Sushil), too, has said something on his party’s forum. I don’t think, we (Sushil and I) need media to exchange our views,” he said.

On the RJD’s charge that their Parivartan rally posters and banners were being singled out for removal, Nitish said: “You must remember that I had even asked the administration to remove my party’s posters and banners, especially those obstructing traffic in important areas, during our Adhikar Rally last September. One must take care of rules and regulations while erecting banners and posters.”

Taking a dig at the RJD’s May 15 Parivartan rally, Nitish said: “The rally is primarily aimed at parivartan (change) in the RJD’s leadership, rather than for a change in government, a reference to Lalu’s son Tejaswi fanning out in the hinterland and taking the charge of pulling crowds to the rally.

As usual, Nitish reiterated his demand for special category status to Bihar. “Our struggle will continue till it is realised.”