BJP accuses Nitish of telling 'lies' on rally security

The war of words between the former NDA partners continued today with BJP accusing Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of lying time and again out of 'frustration' due to the 'tremendous success' of the October 27 Hoonkar rally addressed by Narendra Modi.

"Nitish Kumar is speaking lies time and again out of depression and disappointment after the break up of the alliance ... After the tremendous success of the BJP (Hoonkar) rally, Kumar has even defeated Joseph Goebbels in uttering falsehood," senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said in a statement here.Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.

Seeking to pin down Kumar over security arrangements for the October 27 Hoonkar rally at Gandhi Maidan, Modi said "The first lie he(Kumar)spoke is his denial receiving any alert from IB about the terror attack first on October one and specific one regarding such threat to the rally on October 23."

Kumar had yesterday dismissed any lapses on his or the state government part on the day of the rally that witnessed serial blasts which claimed the lives of seven persons here.

Modi said Kumar's second lie was about adequate security arrangements for the rally. "The CM should reveal the number security personnel deployed for the BJP rally as compared to that during the Adhikar rally organised by JD(U) on November 4, 2012," he said.

In the Adhikar rally over 10,000 policemen were deployed in Gandhi Maidan half of whom were mobilised from other districts and rest half were Patna police and jawans, Sushil Modi, who was the deputy chief minister at that time, said.

For monitoring security in that rally, 60 CCTV cameras, 15 metal detectors and 10 dog squads were in place in Gandhi maidan. Over 70 ambulances were kept ready to meet any emergency situation, he said.

Kumar's third lie is about the crowd size in BJP rally, Modi said.

"There were more than 7 lakh people in the BJP rally - more than 30,000 from CM's native Nalanda district itself. The turnout (in Hoonkar Rally) was almost five times more than the turnout in Adhikar rally," he claimed.