Was PM Modi Wrong in Attacking Priyanka Gandhi, Asks BJP Ally Kushwaha in Latest Dig at Nitish Kumar

New Delhi: Stepping up his campaign against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over his alleged 'neech' remark, RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha on Thursday sought to draw a parallel between his attack on the JD(U) chief and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's targeting of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in 2013.

The Union minister, who has accused Kumar of referring to him as "neech" (lowly) — a charge rejected by Kumar-led JD(U) — took a dig at Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi over his defence of the chief minister over the issue.

In a series of tweets, Kushwaha asked if Modi was "wrong" in his attack on Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is sister of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, over her "neech rajnitii" (lowly politics) jibe against the saffron party during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

She had used the term "neech rajniti" to attack the BJP, and Modi, then his party's prime ministerial candidate, had invoked his backward caste origins to accuse her of targeting his background.

Kushwaha upped the ante amid signs that he was drifting away from the BJP-led NDA due to his unhappiness over seat sharing arrangement in Bihar for the Lok Sabha polls.

Referring to the bitter political slugfest between Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar over the 'DNA issue' during the 2015 Bihar assembly polls when the two leaders led rival camps, Kushwaha added that Sushil Kumar Modi should also then say that the Bihar chief minister was then right and the prime minister was wrong.

Kumar had built a campaign against the prime minister over his DNA barb at him, asking his partymen to collect samples of hair and nail to be sent to Delhi for DNA test.

As the RLSP leader accused Kumar last week of describing him as "neech", Sushil Kumar Modi had tweeted on November 12 that the CM had never used such a word but some people are trying to become "martyrs".

Kushwaha, who is said to be unhappy with BJP president Amit Shah's proposal that his party contest fewer number of seats in 2019 than it did in 2014, also said Thursday that he will be discussing the seat sharing issue with Shah. The RLSP had fought three seats in 2014 and won all.

"I am leaving Patna for Delhi. I will try to talk on the seat sharing arrangement in a meeting with BJP President Amit Shah," Kushwaha tweeted on Thursday.

With the BJP going all out to keep the Bihar chief minister in good humour, political watchers believe it has not gone down well with Kushwaha, who has long had a bitter relationship with him.

Kushwaha had joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ahead of the 2014 election. The JD(U) had walked out of the alliance in 2013 after 17 years. However, it returned to the NDA in 2017 after quitting the grand alliance which it had formed with the Congress and the RJD. The state sends 40 members to Lok Sabha.