Patna:
Nitish Kumar didn't just compare his rival
Narendra Modi to Hitler yesterday, or predict that the BJP's candidate for prime minister has no chance of getting the country's top job.
In a 90-minute speech, Mr Kumar, who is the chief minister of Bihar, said that Mr Modi revises history without any regard for facts, and illustrated his theory with a series of examples.
(Nitish takes on Modi with reference to Hitler )In his speech, Mr Modi described Mr Kumar as a "political opportunist who betrayed the people of Bihar" by truncating his 17-year alliance with the BJP earlier this year after it placed Mr Modi in charge of its national campaign.
(In Patna, Narendra Modi charges rival Nitish Kumar with 'betrayal')Mr Modi made those allegations on Sunday at a massive rally in Patna which was held despite a series of bomb blasts in and around the venue.
Mr Kumar said that the BJP leader's speech displayed his "amazing" knowledge. He was being sarcastic.
(Watch his speech here)He said that Mr Modi twisted the facts when he said that they were seated at the same table as him at a lunch hosted by the Prime Minister in 2012. Mr Modi said in his speech on Sunday that he urged the JDU leader at this lunch to eat and drink without being worried about being photographed with his opponent because there was no media at the event. The BJP leader used the anecdote to bolster his charge that Mr Kumar's stated distance from him is meant largely for public consumption. The BJP has alleged that Mr Kumar challenges Mr Modi's secular credentials only to appease his Muslim voters.
Mr Kumar said that lunch never took place. He said that Mr Modi and he once shared the table at a function in Ahmedabad hosted by a former senior judge from Patna.
He also said that Mr Modi wrongly said in his speech that Taxila was a part of Bihar, when it was in fact located in North West Pakistan. He also said that Mr Modi referred to Chandragupta as a "great king of the Gupta dynasty instead of the Maurya dynasty which ruled from Patliputra which is now Patna."