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Hitting back at Nitish Kumar, who on Monday mouthed a limerick set to a film song to attack him, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday likened JD(U)-RJD-Congress alliance to "three idiots", advised the chief minister to perfect the art of "Mushaira" and practice it at leisure after the Bihar polls.
Coverage: Battle for Bihar, 2015
"I have been noticing that Laluji entertains well and Bihar is getting some entertainment after many years. But these days there is an intense rivalry going on between Laluji and Nitishji on many issues--protecting the criminals, doing nepotism, breaking off from truth. Now the competition is also in the field of entertainment.
"Yesterday, I saw Nitishji doing some Mushaira. He felt that he will call some courtiers and journalists, recite poems and defeat Lalu by starting a new form of entertainment. I knew there are three partners in the grand alliance -- Congress RJD and JD(U). But I wonder why Nitish Babu chose a song from the film Three Idiots for his first Mushaira. Even if you wanted to parody a poem why did you think of the Three Idiots," Modi said addressing a rally in Sitamarhi.
Kumar, the grand alliance's chief ministerial candidate, had on Monday mocked Modi for not keeping promises and his frequent trips abroad using a song from Bollywood blockbuster 'Three Idiots'.
"Bahati Hawa sa tha woh, Gujarat se aaya tha woh, kaala dhan laane wala thaa wo, kahan gaya use doondho. Humko desh ki fikr sataati hai, woh bus videsh ke daure lagaate hain, humko badhti mahangai satata, wo bas mann ki baat sunata. Har waqt apni selfie khinchta tha woh, Dawood ko laane wala tha woh, kahan gaya use dhoondo," Nitish had said, parodying a song from the film. (He was like the blowing wind, from Gujarat he came with promise to bring back black money, where has he gone? Find him. While we worry about the country, he travels abroad; While price rise bothers us, he tells us only his 'mann ki baat. Always busy clicking selfies, he promised to bring back Dawood. Where has he gone? Find him.)
Hitting back, Modi said, "What a game of entertainment Nitish Babu! You still have a week's time. Spend it doing this. Call your four-six courtiers, hold a Mushaira.
"Practice it, perfect it, you will get many opportunities after November 8 (the day of counting). You can then sing at leisure songs of your suffering and shed tears ruing why you left someone, why you joined someone. Keep writing poems on all this and keep shedding tears," Modi said.
He was apparently referring to Kumar breaking ties with BJP in June 2013 after being together for 17 years following Modi's appointment as his party's campaign chief for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and then joining hands with his arch rival RJD chief Lalu Prasad for the assembly elections in Bihar.
Asserting that leaders of the the anti-BJP grand alliance have "panicked over impending defeat", Modi accused them of taking to "lies, cheating and betrayal" and repeatedly attacked Nitish over his meeting with a tantrik (occultist).
Terming Nitish's meeting with the tantrik a sign of "lack of confidence" in the grand alliance, Modi wondered whether such "tantra-mantra can save them".
Modi said people approach occultists only when they feel all roads are closed to them.
The prime minister, who has often accused Kumar of "arrogance" said, "Where does this arrogance take a person? When he submitted to Lalu ji, it was clear he was looking for options to save himself. Then he took shelter under Madam Sonia.
"When all efforts failed and there is nothing left for him, he took to Jantar Mantar. This way you are insulting democracy. Can jantar mantar help them? Will their sins be washed away by Jantar Mantar? Will it provide education and employment to the youth and irrigation water to farmers?" he asked.
Terming the Bihar assembly polls a choice between "politics of development" and the "game of unholy alliance", the prime minister said the election was more about deciding the destiny of Bihar than which party wins or loses or who forms the government.
Accusing the 'Mahagathbandhan' leaders of levelling "baseless allegations" against NDA and him, he said," Even those remarks are being attributed to us which we never made. Defeat stares them in the face, people of Bihar have bid them good bye."
Reviving his attack on Kumar for his purported promise to provide electricty to every village in the state, Modi alleged the Chief Minister did not fulfil his commitment and power comes to many places after interval of days.
Modi promised electricity to all villages by 2019 and to all homes in Bihar by 2022.
Alleging that Nitish and Lalu do not know how to run a government, Modi said he fears the money given by the Centre might have remained unused in banks or "embezzled".
He cited funding for a number of schemes by Centre to claim that the Bihar government was not able to spend the money extended to the state.