New Delhi/Patna, June 20 (ANI): The Janata Dal-United (JD-U) on Wednesday took Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to task, and held him responsible for the Bharatiya Janata Party's defeat in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls.
"Had Atal Bihari Vajpayee sacked the Modi Government after the 2002 riots in Gujarat, NDA would have retained power in the 2004 elections," said JD-U spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari.
Fully backing the remarks made by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Tiwari said the JD-U has an alliance with the BJP, and not Modi.
" Whether we remain in the NDA or not, we will not compromise on secularism and social justice. We have an alliance with the BJP and not with Modi," he told media in New Delhi.
Meanwhile, JD-U MLC Devesh Chandra Thakur reacting to reports of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat backing Modi, said it is quite clear that the Gujarat chief minister has the RSS backing.
"Everyone knows that they are backing Narendra Modi. Modi has a RSS back ground. So, they will definitely come out in support of Narendra Modi. There is no surprise element in this. So, that is quite obvious and quite natural," he said.
Thakur, however, made it clear that the ideologies of his party and that of the RSS-BJP were very different.
"I don't think any one in this country will be surprised by the statement of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwatji. Everyone, who knows India and who knows about this country knows the ideology of RSS. We differ slightly on our definition of 'hindudtvad'. I personally feel that Hinduism and 'hindudtvad' is the most liberal religion or ideology on this earth.
"Unfortunately, the ideology of RSS narrows down the concept of Hinduism in this country. We do not subscribe to such narrow ideologies and I would beg to differ from Mohan Bhagwatji," he added.
Earlier today, Mohan Bhagwat came out in full support of Modi, as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate and took Nitish Kumar to task over his recent comments that the NDA's prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections should be 'secular and liberal'.
Emphasizing that the country should have a Prime Minister who propounds Hindutva, Bhagwat said: "To keep alive the Hindutva ideology, the Hindu samaaj should come together. And the country should have a Prime Minister who believes in that ideology or propounds that view."
Nitish Kumar had earlier on Tuesday described his earlier comment that the NDA's Prime Ministerial candidate should be somebody with 'secular credentials' as golden words that could not be repeated.
"There is no need for me to give an interview here again. Listen one thing 'golden words are not repeated'," Kumar told media in Patna.
Seeking to rest all speculation, Kumar had earlier in an interview to a national daily asserted that he is not in the prime ministerial race. However, without taking names, he has also made it clear that JD (U) will not accept the leadership of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
He insisted that the NDA should name its Prime Ministerial candidate before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and the candidate must have secular credentials and a liberal frame of mind.
"NDA should declare its candidate in advance. This leader should be acceptable to every constituent of the alliance. To me, the leader of the coalition should have secular credentials. It should be someone who has absolute faith in democratic values," he said.
"In a multi-religious and multi-lingual country like ours, the leader should not have rough edges in his personality. An alliance can win the confidence of the people only if the leader is seen as accommodating," he added.
Nitish Kumar's candid comments appear to be aimed at setting the rules of the game before the NDA starts to mull over the strategy to take on the UPA in 2014.
The latest war-of-words seems to have been sparked off by Modi's recent comments on Bihar.
Speaking at a public rally in Rajkot, Modi had reportedly said, " Bihar, at one point of time, was a political and spiritual leader of the country, but it slipped into socio-economical backwardness ever since the casteist leadership took centrestage." (ANI)
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