Patna blasts: Modi slams Nitish for not probing negligence

He said that Kumar was being arrogant by refusing to order a probe to ascertain if negligence caused the blasts

BJP leader Narendra Modi today hit out at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, saying he was being "arrogant" by refusing to order a probe to ascertain if negligence had led to blasts in his party's rally in Patna.

Modi, who was addressing a public meeting in this Chhattisgarh town, also referred to the Maoist attack in which several top Congress leaders of the state were killed and said that Chief Minister Raman Singh, who was on a yatra, had cancelled his journey and ordered not only a judicial probe but also visited the families of the deceased.

He said that this was in sharp contrast to what the Nitish Kumar-led government did after the serial blasts in the BJP rally that killed several people.

"Such a big incident had taken place in Patna....And the people in the government there were having sumptuous meals, there was no sign of pain on their faces. The body language and words used were such as if some happy event had taken place," Modi said.

He said that when a journalist asked whether there had been any laxity on the part of the Bihar government, the response he got was that forget negligence, there is no need for a judicial probe also.

Without naming Nitish Kumar, Modi alleged that the behaviour exhibited was such that it befitted a person who could back stab for political gains.

He also claimed that while Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi had been claiming that his government had brought the food security legislation, the BJP government in Chattisgarh had already implemented such a scheme in the state.