Hunger for power led to Nitish to sit in Lalu's lap: Amit Shah

Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah today said former Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's hunger to stay in power convinced him to break ties with the BJP and fall into the lap of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Yadav.

"Just for the sake of power, Nitish went and sat in Lalu Prasad Yadav's lap", said Shah at the BJP's National Council meeting here today.

The Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress have reached an understanding to contest ten assembly seats in Bihar, which is going for by-polls on August 21, together.

Regarding the state of law and order in Uttar Pradesh, Shah asserted the BJP's responsibility to maintain peace and tranquility in that state if the incumbent government there fails to do so.

"If the UP Government fails to maintain peace, then it is our responsibility to do so. Remember we got 73 seats", said Shah.

The Janata Dal-United pulled out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on June 16, 2013, and also ended its 17-year-old alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the latter promoted Narendra Modi to lead its campaign during the 2014 general elections.

At the time of the announcement of the split, Kumar said, "BJP is going through a new phase. We are not in agreement with that. We cannot compromise with our basic principles.