Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Virtually backing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as BJP’s Prime ministerial candidate, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Wednesday hit out at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for his “secular PM” blabber.
“The country should have a Prime Minister who propounds hindutwa”, Bhagwat told reporters here.
“Nitish Kumar is scared to call himself a Hindu”, he added.
Bhagwat's comments came a day after Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said that the NDA nominee for the Prime ministerial post for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections should be somebody with "secular credentials".
“To me, the leader of the coalition should have secular credentials. It should be someone who has absolute faith in democratic values,” Nitish had said in an interview to a newspaper.
“In a multi-religious and multi-lingual country like ours, the leader should not have rough edges in his personality. An alliance can win the confidence of the people only if the leader is seen as accommodating,” he added.
Kumar’s comment was an oblique reference to Modi who is seen as a Prime Ministerial candidate of BJP. He indirectly made it clear that JD(U) would not accept the leadership of Narendra Modi.
The Nitish-Modi rivalry has been on a high for the past few days. Modi took a dig at politicians from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for what the Gujarat chief minister called "resort to caste-based politics".
First Published: Wednesday, June 20, 2012, 11:32