Patna, June 21 (IANS) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi avoided each other at an official function Monday, though the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader later chose to play down the rift between the two parties.
Both Nitish Kumar and Sushil Modi were present a function organised for the oath-taking of the new chief justice of the Patna High Court but neither of them exchanged words with each other.
Later, the chief minister before leaving for a march flashed a smile at reporters and said: ‘There is no need to take tension. Try to be relaxed.’
This was Nitish Kumar’s first reaction in the past 10 days on the rift between the JD-U and the BJP that threatens the alliance ahead of the assembly elections in October this year.
His body language exuded confidence as he set out for ‘Vishwash Yatra’ (confidence march), accompanied by some local BJP leaders, two days after returning the Rs.5 crore aid money given by the BJP-led Gujarat government during the 2008 Bihar floods.
As part of his march, the chief minister visited Nalanda, his home district and stronghold.
Unlike Sunday when Sushil Modi boycotted the march led by Nitish Kumar in rural Patna, reports reaching here from Nalanda suggested that some local BJP leaders were accompanying the chief minister during the march Monday.
Modi’s decision Sunday evening to boycott the march had forced Nitish Kumar to cancel an event here.
The differences between Nitish Kumar and the BJP started June 12 when he was miffed over newspaper advertisements featuring him and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and the latter referring to the aid provided by Gujarat during the 2008 floods.
On that day itself, Nitish Kumar cancelled a dinner he was to host for BJP leaders attending its national executive meeting here after the full page advertisements appeared in vernacular dailies.
