Nitish Kumar hits back at Modi, calls him hypocrite

Two days after BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi called him a hypocrite at a rally here, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday hit out at the Gujarat chief minister with an equally aggressive repartee.

“The man who wants to become the prime minister has been unabashedly spreading falsehood. The story which he told about the prime minister’s dinner meet, where I was seated next to him, never took place. This was a figment of imagination and part of a bundle of lies being spread by the person whose role model is Hitler,” Kumar said.

He lashed out at Modi for spreading another “lie” that “the one who can ditch JP (Jaya Prakash Narayan), can always ditch the BJP.” 

“Since JP and the BJP sound rhythmic, he said so. But one should tell me when did I ditch JP?” Kumar said at the Janata Dal-United’s “Chintan Shivir” in Rajgir. He criticised Modi’s ignorance about Bihar’s history.

“Modi referred to Takshila in Bihar. It is in Pakistan. He said Chanakya was from the Gupta dynasty, while Chanakya belonged to the Maurya dynasty. He said Sikandar came here to take water from Ganga, while Sikandar returned from the place where Sutlej flows (Punjab-Pakistan border). What can you expect from a person who does not have enough knowledge of history,” said Nitish. Continuing his tirade against Modi, the JD-U strongman said: “I have been accused of being an opportunist. When I cancelled a dinner party for the BJP in 2010, they continued to be with me, simply because they needed me for winning the 2010 Assembly polls. Now that someone else is required for 2014, they have deserted me. Now tell me who is an opportunist,” he said.

“I may not have served tea, but I come from a humble background as my father was a freedom fighter,” the chief minister said.