BJP Kept Narendra Modi Out Of Bihar Campaign, Not Me: Nitish Kumar to NDTV

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally leading the BJP's battle from the front, the political contest in Bihar has become a direct fight between him and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar - two men who have a long and bitter history of differences. When Mr Kumar was in the NDA, he was reported to have insisted that Mr Modi be kept out of campaigning in Bihar in the 2005 and 2010 assembly elections as well as the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. Now, sharing his side of the story for the very first time, Nitish Kumar told NDTV that it was the BJP and not him who decided to keep Narendra Modi out of campaigning in the state. Indicating differences within the BJP over Mr Modi at that time, Mr Kumar said even the story of him cancelling a dinner for Mr Modi in 2010 was not true. That decision, he says, was of BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi. The BJP has called Nitish Kumar's claims false.