By IANS,
Patna : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had “sacrificed his secular image” by sharing a dais with a “murderer” like Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Lalu Prasad said Monday.
A day after the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) show of strength at an election rally in Ludhiana, where Janata Dal-United’s (JD-U) Nitish Kumar and BJP’s Narendra Modi held hands in a sign of camaraderie, Lalu Prasad hit out at his Bihar rival.
“If you remember, Nitish had said earlier that he will not share a dais with these people,” Lalu Prasad told a private television channel here. “Nitish sacrificed his secular image by joining a murderer like Modi.”
“Now that voting in Bihar has ended, he has gone back to his original position. (Congress general secretary) Rahul Gandhi, who had given him the secular certificate, and others who favourably spoke of him will realise how secular he is,” Lalu Prasad said.
BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said in response that Lalu Prasad had betrayed his “desperation”.
“It is a sign of desperation. Nitish Kumar has been part of the NDA right from day one. Modi is a duly-elected twice chief minister of Gujarat who is doing good work. Lalu Prasad is getting a washout hence this desperation,” he said.
He added that the railway minister found himself in the mess for the first time in 20 years.