Nitish a hypocrite, Bihar safe haven for terrorists: Modi

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi targeted Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the latter's home turf. Terming Kumar a 'hypocrite', Modi said because of the latter's "appeasement politics", Bihar has become a safe haven for terrorists.

Talking about the attack on his rally in Patna last year, Modi said at a rally in Muzaffarpur on Monday: "It's a shame they cannot take up the challenge to fight terrorism. It was an issue which should have united political parties, but that has not happened. The porous border with Nepal remains a reason for contentions, yet the state government failed to take action on this regard. Bihar has become a safe haven for terrorists due to vote bank politics of the state government. It had not adopted tough policies against them to appease some groups and people."

"You may not like Modi or BJP, but those died in the blasts were also from Bihar," he added. Without naming Kumar, the Gujarat chief minister said Kumar met him in a closed room and they ate together, but the Bihar CM feared shaking hands in public. "People pardon your mistakes, but not your hypocrisy," he said.

Modi even drew a comparison between his Bihar counterpart and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan, who recently returned to the National Democratic Alliance. He termed Kumar a hypocrite and Paswan an open person. "Unlike other leaders, Paswanji remained courteous even after leaving the NDA. He did not shy away from being photographed with me, whereas other leaders were afraid to be seen with me in public."

Paswan, after breaking up with Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress, returned to the NDA fold last week. Modi said, "The NDA is growing by the day and the worries of others are going to growing. They used to call BJP Bania-Brahmin party. They are surprised that a man from the backward caste is the now the PM candidate of the same party."

Meanwhile, Paswan, who shared stage with him, also hailed Modi as the next Prime Minister and declared that he was committed to making this happen. "There is a strong Modi wave in the country and caste is no longer an issue. All sections of society consider Modi as the best leader, who also comes from a poor family."