Chief Minister Nitish Kumar smelt a political conspiracy behind the Bihar mid-day meal tragedy, alleging BJP and RJD had a "secret understanding" to derive political mileage, escalating the blame game over the incident.
BJP hit back at Nitish, saying the leader of its erstwhile ally JD(U) is "shamelessly" trying to take cover under the conspiracy theory which is "very unfortunate".
As the political slugfest continued, no arrests have been made, a week after 23 children in a government primary school in Chhapra lost their lives after consuming poisonous food. An arrest warrant was issued by a court yesterday against the missing principal of the school.
"The Forensic Science Laboratory, which highlights the presence of pesticide in the mid-day meal, has confirmed our apprehensions about a conspiracy behind the tragedy at a school in Saran last week", Nitish told a meeting of party MPs, MLAs and office-bearers yesterday in Patna as part of Mission 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
The Chief Minister charged that "an understanding between BJP and RJD was very much visible both after Bodhgaya blasts and Chapra midday meal tragedy" as the two parties had called bandhs on the same after the two incidents, state JD(U) spokesman Rajeev Ranjan quoted him as saying.
"RJD and BJP had called bandh together on both the occasions and this confirms the secret understanding between them", Nitish said, breaking his silence on the incident last Tuesday.
He said he is apprehending that more such incidents will take place as part of the opposition's efforts to destabilize his government and asked the partymen to be prepared for it.
Nitish further alleged that BJP was upset over losing power in Bihar after the breakup of its coalition with JD(U) and that the saffron party, along with RJD, "is busy fomenting instability against our government".
"They are testing my patience but I will not move away from the chosen path", Kumar said, adding, "Bihar's mandate was for development and we shall continue to move ahead along that path."
BJP on its part slammed Nitish for his "conspiracy theory" and said he has not even bothered to visit the children who took ill or meet the family members of those kids who lost their lives.
"Nitish Kumar is shamelessly trying to take cover under the conspiracy theory which certainly is very unfortunate. The fact is that 23 toddlers have died and the Chief Minister has entered into a blame game. Nowhere in the world a school campus has been converted into a graveyard," BJP general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy told PTI.
