I’m NDA boss in Bihar, Nitish Kumar says

PATNA: The ruling allies in Bihar — JD(U) and BJP — continue to remain locked in a battle for political one-up-man-ship. The BJP on Monday predicted more parties would join the NDA and that the JD(U) would not think of parting ways even as chief minister Nitish Kumar called himself the "NDA boss in Bihar" while taking pot shots at Narendra Modi.

BJP vice-president, Prabhat Jha said the NDA could swell as he came out in support of Modi as the alliance's PM nominee, brushing aside Nitish's reservations: "Narendra Modi is undoubtedly the most popular leader in the country. The BJP president, too, has made it clear a number of times. And the JD-U needs NDA more than the NDA needs it."

He said Nitish has a bigger responsibility than the BJP to keep the NDA strong. "One should feel the mood of the nation as people have lost faith in the UPA. Nitish cannot go with the Congress which had imprisoned him during the JP movement," Jha said, virtually throwing a challenge to the CM.

Nitish came up with a counter: "Who is the leader of NDA in Bihar? I'm the NDA chairman and Nand Kishore Yadav is its convener," he said pointing to the road construction minister sitting beside him at a function. But in the same breath, he said all constituents have their "own identity, own philosophy and own programmes".

Nitish refused to react to Modi's remarks in Chhattisgarh on Sunday that some chief ministers (without mentioning anybody) are shown black flags in their own states forcing them to cancel their programmes. "I have no idea what others say and neither I am interested in reacting to such remarks," Nitish said. The CM clarified that he had to postpone his ' Adhikar Yatra' due to a firing incident in Madhubani.