Two days after the JD(U) appealed to the top BJP leadership to restrain its party leaders who have been berating Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the BJP's national working president J P Nadda on Wednesday asked Union Minister Giriraj Singh to mind his language and focus on his ministry.

In a terse message, Nadda told Giriraj not to speak “anything against Nitish or the coalition Government in Bihar.”

“Instead of castigating Bihar Government, it will be better if you mind your own business. Focus on your work and discharge your responsibility as a Union Minister,” Nadda reportedly told Giriraj, who is Union Minister for Animal Husbandry in the Narendra Modi Government.

Of late, Giriraj, the BJP MP from Begusarai, had been assailing Nitish soon after Patna was flooded with rain and drain water. The city remained water-logged for nearly a week. “Though Nitish and Sushil Modi should have apologised to the public for the inconvenience caused to them, I apologise on behalf of the NDA,” said Giriraj, while coming down heavily against his own government in Bihar.

“Taali captain ko, toh gaali bhi captain ko (If the captain receives bouquets, then he must receive brickbats too),” Giriraj said.

Giriraj's continued tirade has strained the relationship between the two ruling allies in the State. Bihar BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal too fished into troubled waters and held Nitish squarely responsible for the deluge in Patna.

After the JD(U) expressed its displeasure over the unsavoury statements made by a section of BJP leaders, the party got into damage-control mode and tried to salvage the situation.

“Instead of talking trash, follow the coalition dharma,” Nadda, the third most powerful leader in the BJP after Modi and Amit Shah, warned Giriraj over the phone.