Bihar: Food minister Shyam Rajak blames Sushil Modi for 'advising' to cancel 2010 dinner

PATNA: Amid heightened political fight between JD(U) and BJP in Bihar ahead of Assembly polls, state Food minister Shyam Rajak today claimed the dinner in honour of BJP leaders in 2010 was cancelled "on advice" of party leader Sushil Kumar Modi.

"It was on advice of Sushil Modi to a hurt Nitish Kumar that the dinner for BJP leaders was cancelled in 2010," Rajak told PTI.

He further claimed that after calling off the dinner, the food that was to be served to the BJP leaders at the dinner was despatched to a posh hotel where they had it.

Modi was the Deputy Chief Minister during NDA rule in Bihar.

Bihar Chief Minister had recently said some BJP leaders were behind his cancelling dinner for BJP leaders in June 2010 in protest against the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi highlighting donation of Rs 5 crore from his state for rehabilitation of victims of Kosi flood through big advertisements in newspapers.

But, the CM had refused to identify anybody by name.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had expressed hurt feeling over the episode during his rally at Muzaffarpur rally on July 25.

BJP leader C P Thakur, who was Bihar BJP President in 2010, told PTI, "I had advised the party to sever ties with JD(U) over the issue (cancellation of dinner) but some state BJP leaders were against it."

He, however, refused to name the state BJP leaders.

Told that minister Shyam Rajak has identified Sushil Modi as advising Kumar to cancel the dinner, Thakur, a Rajya Sabha member and who served as Union minister in the NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, did not corroborate it.

"I did not hear any name at that time before cancellation of dinner," he said.