Nitish Kumar attack on Narendra Modi to boost his prospect in Gujarat polls: Ramvilas Paswan

PATNA: LJP president Ramvilas Paswan today dubbed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's call for a secular person to be projected as the NDA's prime ministerial candidate as a 'political stunt'.

"It is nothing more than a political stunt. It appears that Kumar made the remarks to deflect the attention of the people from local problems and misrule of the state government and to polarize the minority votes in Gujarat so that the Hindu votes go to Modi in bulk in the assembly polls in Gujarat later this year," Paswan told reporters here.

Questioning Kumar's secular credentials, he said, Kumar did not oppose L K Advani's candidature as the NDA's prime ministerial candidate in 2009 general elections though the BJP leader was an accused in the Babri Mosque demolition case.

The JD(U) leader also did not resign from the NDA government to protest the 2002 Gujarat riots nor did he order a probe in the Sabarmati train massacre at Godhra, he said.

The chief minister also allegedly tried to cover up the Forbesganj police firing incident in which four members of the minority community were killed last year, he said.

The LJP leader asked Kumar to explain why he formed government with the BJP when it's Hindutva agenda was crystal clear and said that Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Minister Giriraj Singh has rightly described the chief minister as a 'pseudo secular' leader.