File photo of Nitish Kumar
On the day Parliament was paralysed over Defence Minister A K Antony's statement on Pakistan's attack on Indian soldiers, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar joined the opposition's chorus, saying Mr Antony should apologise or withdraw his statement made yesterday.
"Defence Minister should think carefully before he makes a statement," Mr Kumar said.
Yesterday, Mr Antony said that 20 heavily armed militants accompanied by "persons dressed in Pakistan Army uniforms" had ambushed an Army patrol on the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch, which the opposition says lets Pakistan off the hook on the attack.
Condemning the attack in which four soldiers from Bihar were killed, the Chief Minister said, "It's an unfortunate and serious matter. We will try and ensure that the families of the martyrs are well looked after."
The Bihar government has announced an ex-gratia amount of Rs 10 lakh each to the martyrs' families.
Asked whether India should talk to Pakistan after the attack, Mr Kumar said that decision lies with the Centre. "I think Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wants to take the bilateral relations with India forward. But such incidents create hurdles in the peace process. The climate has to be right for talks to continue," he said.
On the Food Security Bill, introduced today in Parliament, Nitish Kumar met Finance Minister P Chidambaram to flag his concerns over the Congress's flagship scheme. "We support the concept, but want the Centre to bear the additional burden, not the states," he said.
On the special status for Bihar, he said, "We've already made that demand. The Raghuram Rajan committee is looking into it. Let's wait and see what the report says."