HD Deve Gowda, not Narendra Modi, was country's first OBC PM, says Nitish Kumar

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday sought to counter the BJP's claims of giving the nation its first OBC Prime Minister, saying Janata Dal (Secular) president HD Deve Gowda was the first country's first prime minister who belonged to the Other Backward Classes. "They are claiming that this is the first OBC Prime Minister, but they don't know that the first OBC Prime Minister was HD Deve Gowda. There is a difference between belonging to the backward classes and working for their welfare," Nitish told the media here.

"We have always been saying that the BJP is not bothered about development. They only want power, whether they get it by dividing the society on the basis of religion, this is their principle and their philosophy," he added. 

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah had yesterday claimed that only his party can work for the welfare of the backward classes. "The parties which were founded for the welfare of the backward classes are now merely caste based parties. Such parties can never work for welfare of backward classes, only BJP can do it," Shah at the BJP OBC morcha meet here.

"The BJP has given maximum OBC Chief Ministers, the party also gave the country its first OBC Prime Minister," he added.