BJP hits back at Nitish Kumar for slamming PM Narendra Modi's foreign visits

PATNA: BJP hit back at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today for mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his foreign visits, saying that the JD(U) leader was making "distasteful remarks" driven by "personal animosity".

The Prime Minister's foreign visits are part of his constitutional duty to strengthen India's ties with other countries, said senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi.

Attacking Kumar, he said the Bihar chief minister had made the "distasteful remarks" against Narendra Modi yesterday "out of frustration over the buzz about his visit to Bihar soon".

"The chief minister's caustic remark against the prime minister also points to the fact that he nurses personal animosity towards Narendra Modi.

"More so, he appears to have slipped into depression at the thought of the grim prospect in the upcoming Assembly polls in Bihar," Sushil Kumar said in a statement here.

Kumar's remarks against the prime minister was due to his association with RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Congress, Sushil Kumar further charged.

"Is it not a constitutional duty of the prime minister to strengthen India's bilateral relations with other countries?" he asked while charging Kumar with adopting double standards on the question of foreign visit by leaders.

Sushil Kumar asked the chief minister whether he had questioned Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi for his nearly two month-long sabbatical in a foreign country earlier this year. He also wondered what Gandhi had done during his visit abroad.

The prime minister is travelling between July 6 to 13 to five Central Asian countries and also Russia, where he will attend the summits of BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.