Patna:
The ragged ties between the BJP and its main ally Nitish Kumar were a little more frayed today, though only last night, BJP president Rajnath Singh told NDTV that the "crisis" would soon be resolved.
Ignoring a cease-and-desist warning publicly issued by the BJP over the weekend, Mr Kumar, who is the chief minister of Bihar, took another swipe at BJP leader Narendra Modi this morning, suggesting that the buck stops with the government of Gujarat for the communal riots of 2002. Mr Modi was in office then. Hundreds of Muslims were killed across the state.
Over the last few days, the BJP has publicly reprimanded Mr Kumar's party, the Janata Dal (United), for targeting Mr Modi. "Our opinion of Mr Modi is not new. So why is the BJP surprised?" asked Shivanand Tiwari, a JD(U) leader.
Yesterday, BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi appeared to question the secularism of Mr Kumar, stressing that he was Railways Minister when nearly 60 karsevaks were killed at Godhra in Gujarat in a train returning from Ayodhya. That tragedy spurred the onslaught of the worst riots since independence.
Mr Kumar retaliated today by saying that the Railways Minister is responsible for safety on trains; the law and order of a state, he said pointedly, rests with the government.
Over the weekend, the Bihar Chief Minister topped months of thinly-veiled swipes at Mr Modi with a fiery speech in which he underscored, without taking any names, that a leader without secular credentials would not be acceptable to him as the presumptive prime minister of the BJP-led coalition, the NDA, which includes his party.
BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said after that speech that her party "rejects all unfounded inferences against Narendra Modi."
Ignoring a cease-and-desist warning publicly issued by the BJP over the weekend, Mr Kumar, who is the chief minister of Bihar, took another swipe at BJP leader Narendra Modi this morning, suggesting that the buck stops with the government of Gujarat for the communal riots of 2002. Mr Modi was in office then. Hundreds of Muslims were killed across the state.
Over the last few days, the BJP has publicly reprimanded Mr Kumar's party, the Janata Dal (United), for targeting Mr Modi. "Our opinion of Mr Modi is not new. So why is the BJP surprised?" asked Shivanand Tiwari, a JD(U) leader.
Yesterday, BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi appeared to question the secularism of Mr Kumar, stressing that he was Railways Minister when nearly 60 karsevaks were killed at Godhra in Gujarat in a train returning from Ayodhya. That tragedy spurred the onslaught of the worst riots since independence.
Mr Kumar retaliated today by saying that the Railways Minister is responsible for safety on trains; the law and order of a state, he said pointedly, rests with the government.
Over the weekend, the Bihar Chief Minister topped months of thinly-veiled swipes at Mr Modi with a fiery speech in which he underscored, without taking any names, that a leader without secular credentials would not be acceptable to him as the presumptive prime minister of the BJP-led coalition, the NDA, which includes his party.
BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said after that speech that her party "rejects all unfounded inferences against Narendra Modi."
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
