Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. PTI Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. PTI

Addressing a party convention in PM Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha seat, Bihar CM and JD (U) chief Nitish Kumar Thursday asked party workers to strive for ‘Sangh Mukt Bharat-Sharaab Mukt Samaj’. With an eye on next year’s UP polls, he asked people of the state to teach BJP the lesson it was taught in the Bihar polls.

“People of Bihar gave them a reply. Now, it is UP’s turn,” he said.

At the state-level political convention in Varanasi’s backward caste-dominated Pindra segment, he slammed BJP and RSS over several issues, claiming there was a stark difference between BJP’s promises and actions. “During Lok Sabha polls, they talked about ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’, black money, employment and farmers’ issues. But, after the polls, they forgot these promises and raised issues of ‘Love Jihad’ and ‘Ghar Wapsi’. During Bihar polls, they raised the issue of beef. These days, they are speaking about patriotism…Will people learn patriotism from them? …We are happy they have started speaking about the tricolour. Earlier they favoured only saffron (flag)….”

Nitish asked the PM to ban liquor across the country or at least in BJP-ruled states. “Today, I ask, what is BJP’s position on liquor ban? He (Modi) displays photos with spectacles of Gandhi in the cleanliness campaign. Bapu was against liquor consumption. Then why is he not banning liquor?”

Taking on the state’s ruling SP, he asked people to compare work done by the UP and the Bihar government. He also rued SP’s decision to walk out of Grand Alliance when it was fighting BJP in Bihar.

WATCH INDIAN EXPRESS VIDEOS HERE

📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App.