)
BJP's bitterness with JD-U was starkly visible today with the party criticising its former ally on several counts, including on secularism, clashes between their party workers during the Bihar bandh and the past relations between Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar.
BJP also expressed surprise at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's response to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh describing him as a secular leader.
"We are surprised that Nitish Kumar is feeling elated about a certificate of being secular from a party that was involved in the Sikh massacre of 1984. The Prime Minister, who represents Assam in Parliament, has not spoken a word about what is happening in the state," BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi told reporters.
He was referring to the attacks on Hindus in Assam allegedly by illegal Bangladeshi migrants.
BJP, which was a part of the coalition government in Bihar till June 16, has fully assumed the role of the main Opposition in the state. It repeatedly attacked Kumar on the issue of secularism, the plank on which JD-U parted ways from the BJP.
"Kumar has got the badge of secularism from a Prime Minister who had said that Muslims have the first right to the resources of the country," Trivedi said.
BJP also held JD-U workers responsible for the clashes that took place between the two parties in Bihar during the bandh called by it today.
"This was an infringement by the JD(U) workers as BJP had called for the bandh," Trivedi said.
Asked about Nitish Kumar's 2003 speech in Gujarat as Railway Minister in which he had praised Modi, he said, "How many chief ministers did Nitish Kumar say will play a role in national politics?"
