Nitish Kumar, a dictator, alleges his ex-deputy

PATNA: Taking exception to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar describing his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi as a 'dictator' and a 'fascist', senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi today said the JD(U) leader has been known to behave like a dictator himself.

"Kumar himself has been known to behave like a dictator," Sushil Kumar Modi, former deputy chief minister of Bihar, said in a statement here.

Substantiating his allegation, Modi quoted ailing JD(U) stalwart George Fernandes as having said once that Nitish Kumar had become a dictator.

It was due to his dictatorial style of functioning that the late JD(U) leader Digvijay Singh had snapped ties with Kumar and another party leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh had charged the chief minister with behaving like a dictator while quitting his post of the state unit JD(U) president three years ago, he said.

In recent times, as many as half a dozen JD(U) leaders have been shown the door by the chief minister for praising or meeting Narendra Modi, the statement said citing JD(U) MP Captain Jainarayan Nishad and MLA Chhedi Paswan.

Taking the Gujarat Chief Minister's name was tantamount to committing a crime in JD(U), it said.

Modi said the chief minister had imposed a ban on display of political cartoons at Durga Puja pandals in Patna fearing that such materials could criticise him and praise his Gujarat counterpart.