Nitish Kumar one of the reasons for Congress party's defeat: LJP President Chirag Paswan

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) President Chirag Paswan, on Tuesday, called Bihar CM Nitish Kumar as one of the many reasons why his ally Congress lost assembly elections in three states.

Speaking to Republic TV, Paswan also underscored Nitish's tendency to jump ship to the winning side, implying that the I.N.D.I.A bloc will not last long. His statement comes ahead of the fourth I.N.D.I.A bloc meeting scheduled for December 17. 

Initially scheduled for December 6, the meeting was postponed after Nitish along with West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav decided to skip it. 

"There are many reasons why the voters rejected the INDI Alliance despite so much campaigning and one of the reasons is Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Ji," the Jamui MP said.

"I am not mentioning him just because I oppose him but because of the way he used obscene words against women," Paswan said referring to Nitish's comments on population control in the Bihar assembly in November.

"The silence of senior INDI Alliance leaders on his statements and on Nitish Kumar Ji insulting Jeetan Ram Manjhi who belongs to the Dalit Samaj - (and) no leader considered it important enough to speak against insults to Sanatan Dharma," he further said adding to the list of reasons.

"All this is responsible for the defeat of the opposition," he added.

When asked about the INDIA bloc and its future, Paswan said," Nitish Kumar has always tried to separate from the alliance which loses. He wins with someone else and contests elections with someone else."

The MP also reacted to the Congress leaders blaming the EVMs for their defeat in Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh assembly elections against the BJP.

"What is new in this? If you are raising questions over EVM in three states, then you should question it in the fourth state as well. You should say that Telangana results are also wrong. This is now a done to death formula. Selective criticism won't work," he told PTI.