It’s no time for politics, says Nitish

October 27, 2013 05:17 pm | Updated November 16, 2021 07:39 pm IST - Patna

Patna:07/10/2013:The Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar talking to media persons during his Janta Darbar in Patna on 07/10/2013.
Photo by:Ranjeet Kumar

Patna:07/10/2013:The Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar talking to media persons during his Janta Darbar in Patna on 07/10/2013. Photo by:Ranjeet Kumar

In the face of a strident attack from Narendra Modi at the Hunkar rally here on Sunday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar refrained from rebutting the accusations made against him by his Gujarat counterpart.

In the wake of the serial blasts in Patna, Mr. Kumar said the time was not appropriate for a political counter-attack. “I will give my reply at a later point; not today. It’s not the right time. This press conference has been called to address the incident of blasts. That does not mean I don’t have anything to say. I will surely give my comments later.”

Mr. Kumar, who has in the past lost no opportunity to take a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate, was slated to attend a programme in Munger and had to rush back to the city after the blasts.

The ruling Janata Dal (United) is scheduled to hold a two-day camp in Rajgir, where discussions on political manoeuvres for 2014 Lok Sabha are to take place.

Asked if the multiple blasts, coming just three months after the Bodh Gaya blasts, were the result of a political conspiracy, Mr. Kumar denied any such connection.

“Where is the political conspiracy in this? Bihar has never had a tradition of violence and such attacks have never taken place before,” he said.

Although political rivalries existed in Bihar, the State had a tradition of giving democratic space to opposing political ideologies. The choice of day time and the rally venue of the attacks were a serious concern for the government, he said.

Mr. Kumar vowed to bring the perpetrators of the blast to book. He said the State had undertaken the best possible steps for the BJP rally.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.