Nitish Kumar blames Sushil Modi for Narendra Modi rift

PATNA: Nitish Kumar insists he was not the one who had blocked Narendra Modi from campaigning for the 2010 Bihar assembly polls. It was entirely a BJP decision. This was when JD(U) and BJP were still allies and had gone into the elections together.

On Tuesday, the Bihar CM gave a TV interview where he clearly said the BJP leadership had taken a call on the matter and he was in no way responsible. Nitish Kumar has had a rocky relationship with Narendra Modi and in 2008 returned the flood relief Modi had given Bihar as Gujarat CM.

This time around, while on campaign in Bihar, PM Modi talked of Nitish objecting to his canvassing in the state. Senior Bihar BJP leader Sushil Modi picked up that cue and claimed the Bihar CM was to blame for the fiasco bringing the alliance between JD(U) and BJP to a snapping point.

Narendra Modi, BJP's lead campaigner, subsequently tore into Nitish questioning his political DNA. The CM turned the tables on the BJP and sought to make political capital out of the issue saying the PM had questioned the DNA of all Biharis.

In Tuesday's interview, when questioned about the campaign controversy, Nitish bluntly said Sushil Modi, not he, was responsible for it. "Woh toh mai Sushil Modi ke chakkar mein aa gaya (I believed Sushil Modi's words) and that led to cancellation of Narendra Modi's campaigns in Bihar," Nitish said.

Sushil Modi, former deputy CM, and leader of the opposition in the Bihar legislative council, though, said he wasn't aware of any such interview and refused comment. "I will not comment unless I see it (the interview)."

As Bihar gears up for the final three phases of the assembly polls, the political contest in the state has taken the shape of a direct confrontation between Narendra Modi, who is personally leading the BJP's battle charge, and Nitish Kumar, chief ministerial face of the grand alliance. Asked if his differences with the PM were personal not just political, Nitish replied: "What differences? I have no differences. I never told him not to come here to campaign. I never needed to say anything like that. That was BJP's own decision."

The BJP had also alleged that Nitish in June 2010 cancelled a dinner he was to host for BJP's national executive members after the saffron leadership refused to agree to his condition to keep the Narendra Modi, then Gujarat CM, out of it.

According to Nitish's version, the programme was chalked out at Sushil Modi's behest and cancelled also on his call. "I was on Vishwas Yatra then. The BJP said that many of its senior leaders were coming and requested my presence for an evening. I agreed. But, after the controversy that followed, it was their decision not to call him," Nitish claimed.

Nitish said, "The BJP even said that the event can take place without Narendra Modi's presence and I asked whether that was feasible. I told them it was upon them, whatever they said. I left it to them completely. Had they decided, the dinner would have happened and in whatever form they would have wanted. But, they decided that there will be no dinner and I was informed about it."