PM Narendra Modi at the rally in Bhagalpur, Bihar
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has timed a tweet attack to coincide with the arrival in Bhagalpur today, of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his fourth rally in the election-bound state.
"Modiji, stop the rhetorics, chest thumping & everyday new promises. Show moral courage," Mr Kumar tweeted, and also, "Respect the sentiments of people of Bihar who have been troubled by your unkept promises & unsavoury comments."
Mr Kumar's tweets sought to pre-empt another strong attack on him expected from the Prime Minister, who has targeted him unsparingly in his last three Bihar rallies.
In Arrah last month, PM Modi had also announced a Rs 1.25 lakh-crore financial bonanza in central funds for the state. The BJP in Bihar believes that the announcement has given it a distinct edge in these elections that it must win to efface the nightmare of Delhi, where it was routed by the Aam Aadmi Party.
Mr Kumar alleges that the package is no more than an election promise. The two sides have also done battle over the PM's comments on Nitish Kumar's "DNA," when he questioned the Chief Minister's political integrity.
Nitish Kumar's ally and Congress president Sonia Gandhi joined him at a mega rally on Sunday in interpreting the PM's DNA comment as an "insult to Bihar." They also attacked PM Modi for the Centre's decision to bury the changes it had planned in the law for acquiring land for big projects, strategically before the elections in Bihar, a primarily agrarian state.
Nitish Kumar and Sonia Gandhi alleged that the PM was forced to "bow to the people's will" and abandon the "anti-farmer" land acquisition bill.
The NDA has not projected anyone as presumptive Bihar chief minister, falling back on its tested strategy of building its campaign around PM Modi and his development agenda. Nitish Kumar is the chief ministerial candidate of the rival alliance, which has also already announced how it will divide the seats between the partners.