The BJP president Rajnath Singh, stung by the loss of its biggest ally JD-U last week, on Sunday took the battle against Bihar chief Minister Nitish Kumar to his home turf Patna and asked party workers to get ready for Narendra Modi's rally in October, and also hinted that the Gujarat CM is the obvious choice for the top job in the country.
Addressing a huge gathering of BJP workers from over 8,000 panchayats in the state capital Patna, Rajnath asked Nitish why Modi had not been an issue within the NDA for 10 years, and asked whether it was a fault "to announce the most popular leader of the country and architect of a successful development model" the BJP campaign committee head.
Ex-deputy SM and state BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi hinted that the Gujarat CM was the obvious PM choice."While the BJP parliamentary board may not have decided on a PM candidate, the people seem to have chosen Narendra Modi, who comes from a poor family. It is up to the people of the country to decide whom they want: a tea vendor's son or one who gets his dress washed in England and celebrates his birthday in a foreign land (in a reference to Rahul Gandhi)." All top state BJP leaders, including Ramlal, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, C P Thakur, Mangal Pandey and Nand Kishore Yadav were present at the meeting.
Taking a dig at Nitish, Modi added that pride and arrogance often lead to one's fall. "How can Narendra Modi be divisive when he is asking people of 5 lakh villages to give iron pieces to make a statue of Sardar Patel? The man who is now busy saving lives of people in Uttarakhand cannot be divisive."
Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said the NDA government had perhaps erred in making Nitish railway minister at the expense of BJP leaders. Lashing out at Nitish's "tilak and topi" speech during the JD-U national council meeting in April, Hussain said: "Just by wearing a topi one does not become a well-wisher of Muslims. First the Congress did it, later the RJD and now the JD-U is doing vote bank politics."
