New Delhi:
In a controversial statement, a minister from the Nitish Kumar government today accused BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi of being "the biggest terrorist in India."
"Narendra Modi is the biggest terrorist in the country and it is only natural that he talks about threat to the country from terrorists. One who kills others feels threatened and always moves around security in the fear that he might be killed," said Bihar's Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh.
Mr Singh also accused the BJP of being involved in the serial blasts at Mr Modi's rally in Patna last month, and said the demand for more security for Mr Modi was a publicity stunt. "I clearly feel that the BJP had vested interests in ensuring the blasts took place and has strong links with those accused," he said.
Six people were killed and 83 injured when seven low intensity bombs exploded in Patna ahead of Mr Modi's rally on October 27. Investigators say banned terror outfit Indian Mujahideen was behind the blasts.
Mr Modi enjoys Z-category security. He is guarded by the Gujarat police and the National Security Guard (NSG), whose commandos are offered to chief ministers like J Jayalalithaa, seen as high-risk targets. After the Patna blasts, the BJP had demanded Mr Modi be guarded by the elite Special Protection Group (SPG) which handles the security of the Prime Minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her children.
Nitish Kumar's JD(U) ended a 17-year alliance with the BJP earlier this year, saying he wasn't prepared to stick around while the BJP promoted Mr Modi to its prime ministerial candidate. After the split both sides have traded industrial-strength insults with dogged determination.
Today's remarks by Mr Singh are not his first controversial comments. In August, he had given Pakistan a clean chit over the killing of five Indian soldiers along the Line of Control by saying "I don't believe that Pakistan is responsible for the incident... Pakistan is our younger brother and a neighbour."