Nitish attacks Modi for 'doublespeak' on beef issue

Seeking to turn the tables on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his attack on RJD chief Lalu Prasad over the beef issue, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today accused him of "doublespeak", saying beef exports had gone up in the last year during his rule.
The JD(U) leader also charged that BJP was trying to "bring issues of different places" to Bihar with a view to triggering controversies from which to gain political mileage.
"Modiji's doublespeak at its best - beef exports went up by 15.4 per cent in his 1st year as PM, yet he tries to make beef an issue in Bihar elections," Kumar said in a tweet message.

During his election rallies today, Kumar claimed that meat exports had grown substantially in Gujarat during Modi's tenure as the chief minister of that state.
In 2003, Gujarat exported 10,600 tonnes of meat which rose to 34,990 tonnes in 2013, Kumar told an election rally at Samastipur.
He said that cow slaughter was banned in Bihar since 1955 and that was done during the chief ministership of Sri Krishna Singh, whom the prime minister had lauded at Begusarai yesterday.

Coming to the defence of RJD President Lalu Prasad, his secular alliance partner, Kumar flayed the prime minister for calling Prasad a "shaitan" (devil) even as he claimed that an RLSP MP, while addressing a joint press conference at the BJP office, had threatened to "break" the former Bihar chief minister's chest.

With the state elections set to kick off on October 12, Kumar also alleged that "like importing leaders and workers, BJP is trying to bring issues of different places to Bihar to trigger a controversy so that it could reap votes out of it".
Kumar, the chief ministerial candidate of the grand secular alliance, also came down heavily on Modi over his electricity jibe at him.
"Had I not improved the electricity situation your slogan, 'Abki Bar Modi Sarkar', would not have been watched extensively, by youths in particular on TV during the parliamentary election and you would not have become PM," he said.

Modi during his rallies at Sasaram and Aurangabad today referred to what he claimed was Kumar's promise not to seek votes if he failed to bring electricity to voters' homes.