Nitish rebukes Modi: Think about Gujarat, not Bihar

A day after Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had observed that the 'casteist' leaders had pushed Bihar to economic backwardness, his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar onj Monday asked the former to look at his situation instead of making comments on others.

"One should think about one's own situation (Bihar par tippani karne walon ko apne halaat ke bare me sochana chahiye)", he told reporters in reply to a question eliciting his reaction on Modi's diatribe against the Bihar leaders.

Without taking Modi's name, Kumar referred to two vernacular proverbs to apparently rebuke the former for casting aspersions on others when he himself faced crisis in the party and in public life.

When asked to elaborate further, the chief minister quipped that he was not in the habit of making comments about others and left the media persons to interpret his reaction to Modi's comments on Bihar politicians.

"It is for you (media) to interpret my comments", he said.

Apparently rejecting his Gujarat counterpart's contention about backwardness and lack of economic development in Bihar, Kumar said that the state has been marching on the path of development by taking care of various adversities and problems dogging it over the years.

"Bihar has been a place of learning since ancient times", he said in an apparent rejection of Modi's assessment of the state.

The Gujarat chief minister had at the state Bharatiya Janata Party executive meeting in Rajkot on Monday attacked the Bihar politicians for their 'casteist' outlook and attributed it as the main reason of economic backwardness and lack of development in Bihar.

With inputs from PTI