"I Could Not Care Less": Nitish Kumar On Amit Shah's Jibe

Nitish Kumar made the remark in response to queries from journalists about Amit Shah's "lap of Congress" jibe.

Firing a fresh salvo at Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday asserted that he attached no importance to barbs hurled by those whose political career began just 20 years ago.

Mr Kumar made the remark in response to queries from journalists about Mr Shah's statement in Sitab Diyara, the ancestral village of Jayaprakash Narayan, that "disciples" of the socialist leader are now sitting in the "lap of Congress" for the sake of power.

"The one whose name you people are taking, did he have any first-hand knowledge of what JP stood for? We had earned our spurs in the JP movement (of 1974). I do not want to attach any importance to those whose political career began just 20 years ago," said the JD(U) leader who had dumped the BJP two months ago.

"But, yes, they have got a shot at power right now. And the media highlights them a lot. All English newspapers in Delhi have prominently carried his diatribe about me. But I could not care less," said Mr Kumar, the longest-serving chief minister of Bihar.