Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar drew flak from his own Cabinet colleague Giriraj Singh for attacking Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi while speaking at the JD(U) national council meeting in New Delhi on Sunday.
Senior BJP leader and State Animal Husbandry Minister Giriraj Singh told mediapersons in Patna that every leader and worker of his party is secular and none of them requires a certificate from anybody in this regard.
Taking a dig at Nitish for his “topi and tika” remark, the Minister said that he should not forget that the Congress leaders have always taken Muslims for a ride by wearing caps at their own “suitable” time during the last 60 years.
Known as one of the most vocal supporters of Narendra Modi, Giriraj said that the condition of Muslims is better in Gujarat in comparison to any other State and hence one should not worry about the welfare of minorities in Gujarat.
Other than Giriraj, BJP vice-president CP Thakur and Ashwani Kumar Choubey are also considered as staunch supporters of Narendra Modi in the State. Even Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who always preferred to remain reticent about his views on Narendra Modi, made it unambiguously clear that he has at least 35-year old association with the Gujarat Chief Minister and he has a very good rapport with him in contrary to the media speculation on their relationship.
The Congress leaders are, however, not fully convinced with Nitish’s attack on the single BJP leader as the newly appointed State Congress president Ashok Choudhary said that Nitish should not hope for establishing his secular credentials by attacking the Gujarat Chief Minister.
“Nitish Kumar should not think of any positive response from the Congress till he has a relationship with the BJP,” he commented. Choudhary said, “Nitish Kumar is absolutely wrong if he wants to emerge as a secular messiah by making a selective attack and singling out just Narendra Modi for improving his electoral base among Muslims”.
He also sought to scotch speculation that the Congress high command is passing through a stage of confusion on the issue of Nitish Kumar and adopting any soft attitude against his Government.
“It is absolutely wrong to say that the Congress has any confusion on this count and wasting its time in anticipation that Nitish will join hands with the Congress one day,” he claimed.