Nitish ridicules Modi over EBC status claim

Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for calling himself "EBC Prime Minister", Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said even if a person changes his religion in the country, his caste remains the same, but he (PM) has changed his profile from OBC (Other Backward Class) to EBC (Extreme Backward Class).

"I doubt whether there does exist EBC in the state from which he comes," stated Kumar, holding a press conference here.

"Earlier, he (Modi) would love to call himself 'Vikas Purush' and his party chief used to call him OBC Prime Minister. But nowadays, Modi claimed himself to be the EBC Prime Minister," said Kumar.

"It is happening for the first time in the country that the caste profile of a Prime Minister is being discussed at a length, that too none other than by the Prime Minister himself," he added.

It appeared, said Kumar, that the prime Minister has distanced himself from his development agenda.

"The way he distorts facts and presents things before the public doesn't suit to a Prime Minister," he said.

Nitish alleged that the Prime Minister hardly cared for the poor, which was clear from the reduced allocations to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act, Indira Awaas Yojana, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and other programmes implemented for the benefit of the poor.