No cash, no ED, no resort travel - All done in Bihar style and low-cost: Congress after Nitish dumps BJP

New Delhi: A day after Nitish Kumar dumped the BJP in Bihar and joined hands with the RJD, the Congress on Wednesday mocked the saffron party saying it was done in a civilised manner and in a very low cost. The party referred to 'Operation Lotus' - an alleged tactic by the BJP to topple Opposition governments in states - and said Bihar was no such operation.

"Bihar was no Operation Lotus. No cash caught. No ED raids. No Assam CM. No resort travel. All done in characteristic Bihar style, civilised and low-cost," senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet. He further said that Nitish got the support of the largest party and others in Bihar. "In Maharashtra, BJP engineered defections. In Bihar, BJP was rejected and ejected," he said.

Nitish Kumar will today take oath as chief minister as part of Mahagathbandhan.

The Opposition has in the past accused the BJP of toppling its government by offering cash, ministerial berths, and using central agencies like CBI and ED. The opposition parties on many occasions have claimed that the saffron party offered crores of rupees to MLAs to ensure defection in states where it was not in power. According to Congress, the BJP did this in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and recently in Maharashtra.

However, the BJP has rejected this charge saying the opposition governments in all these states fell because of internal differences and infighting.

BJP's Himanta Biswa Sarma has earned the reputation of the most connected leader in not only the northeast but also in other parts of the country. His name cropped up recently when three Congress MLAs were caught with huge cash in Howrah, Bengal.

During the Maharashtra crisis that led to the fall of the Shiv Sena government, all the rebel MLAs landed in Assam's Guwahati. Sarma is the chief minister of Assam. Today, Jairam Ramesh referred to him while making the point that Nitish needed no such man to pull off a coup in Bihar.