Rafale deal no more a issue, no need for JPC, says Nitish

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said a joint parliamentary committee probe into the Rafale deal was not required as the Supreme Court had given its judgment and the Lok Sabha had debated the issue.

The Janata Dal (United) president also urged the government to hear the people of Assam on the Citizenship Amendment Bill, which has been opposed by a large section of people and organisations in the Northeast.

Targeting opposition parties that have attacking the government over the Rafale issue, Kumar said, "The Supreme Court has delivered its judgment on the issue. It has already been debated in Lok Sabha. It is no more an issue."

"It is beyond one's fathom as what is left now that needs to be convinced to the people...JPC should be constituted for what?," he told reporters here after his 'Lok Samvad' (public interaction) programme.

Kumar was accompanied by his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi, cabinet colleagues and senior bureaucrats.

The JD(U) president also refused to give much importance to the mahagathbandhan which, he said, had "no future" in Bihar.

"I am quite confident that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will again become the prime minister after the Lok Sabha polls... But the people are supreme, they will take the decision ultimately," Kumar, who will play an important role for the NDA in Bihar in the parliamentary election, said.

He said he does not buy the argument that the BJP will lose the Lok Sabha polls as it has lost assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.