Shivanand Tiwari slams Nitish Kumar for 'arrogance'

Senior JD(U) leader Shivanand Tiwari, who was last week denied renomination to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar, called Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar a "dictator", and full of arrogance - appellations that Kumar frequently uses against his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi.

In a letter addressed to Bihar JD(U) chief Bashistha Narain Singh on Sunday, Tiwari alleged Kumar has started "treating himself as God". He said denying him and two other MPs, N K Singh and Shabir Ali, renomination was a result of Kumar's arrogance, and pointed out that he had similarly denied party ticket to deceased party leader Digvijay Singh in 2009 Lok Sabha election from Banka.

According to Tiwari, Digvijay Singh had to contest the Lok Sabha election as an independent from Banka to challenge Kumar's "dictatorship" and he even won. "Digvijay was a brave leader who defied Nitish Kumar and contested the election against his wishes," Tiwari said.

Now N K Singh, who has promoted Kumar all over the world, has been denied renomination to Rajya Sabha and asked to contest against the widow of Digvijay Singh from Banka, Tiwari said. This was to embarrass N K Singh: a contest against widowed Putul Kumari would have got him blackballed within Bihar's Rajputs. "N K Singh is not a person who can contest Lok Sabha election and that too from a remote and backward constituency like Banka," Tiwari said.

Then, taking at the Bihar party chief, Tiwari said, "We know each other for the last three decades and judging your nature, I am confident you can't have courage to advise Nitish." Bashistha Narain Singh refused to comment on Tiwari's letter.