If Nitish is not 'Rambo', he could atleast visit homes of the killed soldiers : Giriraj Singh

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Giriraj Singh on Friday criticized Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for not visiting the families of the martyred soldiers, who were killed in an ambush by the Pakistan Army on Tuesday morning in Poonch District.

"I believe that the chief minister must apologise to the people of the state and the country. He should apologise to the families of those soldiers who were killed. He tried to do a comparison with Narendra Modi, he called him 'Rambo', they said we are not Rambo who would save people in Uttarakhand. If they are not Rambo, atleast they could have gone to the homes of the killed soldiers," Singh said in Patna.

On Thursday, Bihar Minister Bhim Singh made an insensitive statement against the armed forces, saying that people in the police and the army are meant to die.

Bhim Singh, who is Bihar's Panchayati Raj Minister, had later apologized for his insensitive remark.

"I apologize if my distorted comments have caused pain to the people. The Chief Minister called me up and expressed his displeasure over my comment. My comments have been distorted, I had not said that," Singh told the media in Patna.

JD(U) leader Shivanand Tiwari said that his party and the leadership of the Bihar government was sincerely apologetic for Singh's comment and asked that parties do not politicise the issue further.

"He (Bhim Singh) has apologised, he has said that he is ready to apologise a hundred times more. Even the Chief Minister (Nitish Kumar) apologised-all of us in the party apologised. What more is left after this? They are just politicising the issue. This is such a demeaning thing that they are cooking their own political gains on the death of these soldiers," Tiwari said in New Delhi.

In his original reaction to the absence of Bihar Ministers at the airport to receive the coffins of the martyred soldiers Bhim Singh said, "Sena aur police me log marne hi jate hain (People join the army and the police force only to die."

"Did your father and mother go (to receive the soldiers' bodies)," he added, while posing a counter- question to a reporter.

Earlier in the day, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) General Secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy demanded that the Bihar Chief Minister must apologise to the entire nation and immediately sack Bhim Singh for his derogatory remark.

"Nitish Kumar must sack the Minister and must apologize to the nation," Rudy said.

There was no Minister at the Patna airport to receive the bodies of the soldiers. The bodies of the soldiers were brought to Patna by a special plane.

The mortal remains of Sepoy Vijay Kumar Rai, Lance Naik Shambhu Saran Singh and Premnath Singh and Sepoy Raghunandan Prasad from 21 Bihar regiment, who were among five soldiers killed along LoC, were today consigned to flames at their native villages of with full state honours.

Hundreds of people gathered at the cremation grounds to pay their homage to the brave soldiers who were martyred in the Poonch sector on Tuesday.