Vaishali, January 16: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal-United (JDU) will fight the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections together. Addressing a public rally here, Shah said: "I want to end all rumours by declaring openly here that the next assembly elections in Bihar will be fought under the leadership of Nitish Kumar."

The Bihar Assembly elections are due in October this year. The opposition parties -- RJD, Congress and RLSP -- among others have already launched their campaign to defeat the ruling JDU-BJP alliance. The Union Home Minister also slammed the opposition parties for opposing the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Amit Shah Says Nitish Kumar to Lead NDA in Bihar Assembly Elections 2020, Targets Opposition Over CAA.

"The opposition parties engineered anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) riots, which forced the BJP to hold rallies across the country to apprise the people of their nefarious designs," he said. "I have come here to tell Muslim brothers to read the CAA. I have also come to tell Rahul Baba (Rahul Gandhi) and Lalu Prasad Yadav to not mislead the people. Mamata Didi and Kejriwal ji, you too do not mislead the people. The CAA has received the best response in Bihar," he added.

"CAA intends to help those who came to India after their women were raped in front of their eyes. Their properties were snatched away. Their places of worship were desecrated," said Shah. The CAA grants citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist and Christian refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.