Peeved Kushwaha digs up 'DNA remark' to attack Nitish

Union minister and RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha borrowed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 2015 remark over Nitish Kumar's DNA Sunday to attack the Bihar chief minister who is also the JD(U) president.

Kushwaha reminded Kumar that Modi had made the remark in some other context but he (Kumar) had taken it as an insult to him and Bihar and asked his partymen to collect samples of hair and nail to be sent to Delhi for verifying the DNA.

"We are still eagerly waiting for that DNA report. If the report is with you, please share its content. If the DNA remark had really hurt you, then what happened to the report my dear elder brother," Kushwaha said at an RLSP rally.

The Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) chief has been peeved after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ally, the Janata Dal (United), decided to contest an equal number of seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election in Bihar.

The state sends 40 members to Parliament and after the BJP-JD(U) deal, there is speculation that whether this would mean fewer seats for other allies like the RLSP and the Ramvilas Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).

Kushwaha's attack on Kumar followed a statement by the chief minister Saturday, in which he had said, "Itna neeche baat ko nahi le jaiye (do not take the debate to such a low level."
In 2015, Kumar had invited Modi to a dinner only to cancel it. Later, at a rally, the prime minister had said, "There seems to be some problem in his (Kumar's) DNA, because the DNA of democracy is not like that. In democracy, you respect even your political rivals."
Kushwaha said, "Whether or not you (Kumar) wanted that report, the people of Bihar and the country are eagerly waiting for it."