Nitish Kumar terms EVM issue fake, clears stand on Article 370

Patna, May 21 Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is scheduled to arrive in New Delhi to attend a dinner hosted by BJP president Amit Shah for NDA allies and before flying from Patna, Kumar associated with media and talked on Article 370, Uniform Civil Code (UCC), EVMs and on Ayodhya matter.

The Bihar chief minister said that people are raising bogus questions on the credibility of EVMs, including that elections have turned out to be straightforward after the presentation of EVMs. "It's an innovation which has been scrutinized on different occasions and has been replied by the election commission ... faction which starts losing says there were errors in elections. It's not new," said Nitish.

The Bihar chief minister also talked about the contentious issues of Article 370 and Uniform Civil Code and said that JD(U) has no inconsistency over these issues. "There's no contradiction. We've always maintained Article 370 shouldn't be scrapped, Uniform Civil Code shouldn't be imposed," Nitish said.

Discussing Ayodhya issue, Nitish Kumar said that the dispute should be resolved either through mutual understanding or court's intervention. "The dispute ought to be settled through mutual agreement/court's intervention. We've kept up this since we first forged an alliance with BJP," Nitish stated, including that BJP's stand these issues isn't new and it is known to everybody. "A party has its very own stand yet when there is a coalition, the majority of this is talked about. So there is no issue there," commented the JD(U) leader.

Meanwhile, besides Nitish, several other NDA leaders including Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan and AIADMK leaders E K Palaniswamy and O. Pannerselvam are expected to attend Shah's dinner at BJP headquarters in Delhi.