Nitish snubs Modi, returns flood relief money
Patna: The spat between Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Moditurned ugly on Saturday. The Bihar government on Saturday returned Rs 5 crore, which was given byGujarat for Kosi flood relief, just a few days after Nitish cancelled a dinner in hounour of Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in Patna.
"Honourable Narendra Modi was here (in Patna) sometime back for the BJP meeting. He kept on boasting about the money that Gujarat government gave us. It was not in a good taste and diminishes the value of the gesture. So we decided to return the money. Modi started it all with the posters. It was not in keeping with JD (U)'s secular image," Bihar Disaster Management Minister Divesh Chand Thakur said while justifying the return of the flood relief money. Thakur also hinted that Modi would not be allowed to campaign in Bihar during the Assembly elections later in the year.
"Modi campaigning in Bihar won't go down well with JD(U)'s secular image. Modi is a tall leader in BJP but he has an anti-secular image," he said. Modi had not been allowed to campaign in Bihar even during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
The feud between Nitish and Modi started a week back during the BJP National Executive meet in Patna when advertisements appeared in Bihar dailies giving Modi the credit for Gujarat's help to Kosi flood victims in 2008.
The advertisement splashed in newspapers across the state listing humanitarian aid provided by theGujarat government during Kosi floods had enraged Nitish so much that he had announced that themoney donated by Gujarat would be returned.
"We will return whatever amount came into the relief fund. If an aid is given it is not talked about. This is an uncultured thing and against Indian ethos," an angry Nitish had said.
Janata Dal(United) , which is in power in Bihar in alliance with BJP, was also incensed by an advertisement published by Gujarat government on Muslim welfare schemes in Bihar dailies in which the pictures of girl students were found to have been that of a college in Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh.
For the Bihar Chief Minister, who has been assiduously nurturing the Dalit-Muslim constituency, it was a huge embarrassment as he prepared to face electorate by this year end.
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