New Delhi: In a sharp retort to Amit Shah for his attack on the grand 'secular' alliance in Bihar, Congress today reminded the BJP president of the Gujarat riots cases and said a person who faced "legal restrains" should not be talking about 'jungle raaj'.
"A person, who himself faced legal restrains and that too by the apex court of the country, should not be talking about 'jungle raaj'," Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told reporters at the AICC briefing.
He was referring to the Supreme Court's bar on Shah's entry into Gujarat in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. The restriction was later lifted.
Projecting the Bihar assembly elections as a contest between a "kaam-kaji" Chief Minister and "Hawabaaz" Prime Minister, the JD(U)-RJD-Congress alliance also launched a joint attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon after Shah announced the seat-sharing arrangement among NDA constituents.
The leaders of the three parties also refrained from talking much about the fallout of Asadaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM contesting the Bihar polls and sought to project their poll plank as development for all communities, apparently amid realisation that creating a communal versus secular divide will work only to the advantage of BJP.
"The polarisation that had to happen in Bihar has already happened. It is between those for Nitish Kumar and those against Nitish Kumar as was the case in Lok Sabha polls for Narendra Modi," JD(U) general secretary K C Tyagi said.
Surjewala said, "Development and social justice are beyond religion in our view. We have no fear from Owaisi. Our alliance is based on fundamentals of development." It was perhaps the first time that leaders of JD(U) and RJD addressed a joint press conference with Congress from the AICC podium to give the message of the unity within the grand alliance.
Earlier in the day, Shah, while announcing the seat-sharing pact, urged the people of Bihar to help BJP in making the country "Congress-mukta Bharat" and attacked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for aligning with Congress and Lalu Prasad's RJD, saying while Congress symbolised corruption, Prasad symbolised 'jungle raaj'.
