Gap between Modi's words and deeds: Bihar JD-U chief

Hitting out at BJP's prime minister candidate Narendra Modi over an attack he earlier launched on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the state's ruling Janata Dal-United Thursday said Modi was a man of two faces and double standards.

"There is a wide gap between what Narendra Modi is saying and what he has done," state JD-U president Vashisht Narain Singh said. He referred to the Gujarat riots of 2002, and said: "Modi's silence is a big issue. He should come out and explain his government's failure to protect the lives of Gujaratis."

At a public meeting in Chhattisgarh earlier Thursday, Modi described Nitish Kumar as arrogant. He also raised questions over the Bihar chief minister's refusal to order a probe to ascertain if negligence led to the serial blasts at the BJP rally in Patna Oct 27.

JD-U spokesperson Ajay Alok said Modi is in the habit of telling lies, and manufacturing facts.

"Modi is not only distorting historical facts and cooking stories, he has also been accusing Nitish Kumar on the basis of charges that hold no water," he said.

Alok explained that Nitish Kumar was present in Patna the day the blasts occurred.

"The chief minister was in Patna. Soon after the serial blasts, he held a high-level meeting with top officials here. The evening of Oct 27, Nitish Kumar addressed a press conference here, and in the night visited those injured in the blasts who were admitted to the Patna Medical College and Hospital," he said.

Alok also suggested that Modi first collect the right information from his think tank before opening his mouth in public.

"Is it not an embarrassment that a prime minister candidate should behave so irresponsibly?" he asked.

Another JD-U spokesperson, Neeraj Kumar said that Modi's own party leaders have remarked about his arrogant style of functioning.

JD-U national general secretary K.C. Tyagi said Modi was a frustrated man after Nitish Kumar refused to accept him as prime ministerial candidate.

"Modi is angry and unhappy with Nitish Kumar after the JD-U ended its alliance with the BJP over his projection as prime ministerial candidate of the National Democratic Alliance, thus ending Modi's acceptability and respectability in the eyes of all," Tyagi said.

During the Chhattisgarh rally, Modi referred to the Maoist attack of September in which several top Congress leaders of the state were killed, and said Chief Minister Raman Singh, who was on a yatra, had cancelled his journey and ordered not only a judicial probe but also visited the families of those killed.

He said this was in sharp contrast to what the Nitish Kumar-led government did after the serial blasts of Oct 27 in Patna, Modi said.

"Such a big incident had taken place in Patna... and the people in the government there were having sumptuous meals, there was no sign of pain... Their body language and words were as if some happy event had taken place," Modi said.