Nitish wishes Modi on his 62nd Birthday

Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar Sunday wished his Gujarat counterparts Narendra Modi on later's 62^nd birthday while members of Bhartiya Janta party celebrated his birthday wishing him to be next Prime Minister of India.

Wishing Modi for his 62^nd birthday, Bihar CM said, "Everybody should wish each other on birthdays. I also wish him."

However, he poked fun at senior BJP leader and Bihar's Animal Husbandry Minister Giriraj Singh, saying he was not sent the birthday cake.

Giriraj Singh, who cut a big cake on the occasion, said that they are celebrating the birthday of a man who was the builder of the nation.

"He has been symbol of development. I want to see him as prime minister but whatever party decides," he added.

Hundreds of large hoardings of Modi have been put up across the state, particularly in Patna.

Modi had earlier on the second day of his yatra in poll-bound Gujarat taken a jibe at his Bihar counterpart, saying nobody complains when political parties use Osama bin Laden look-alikes during election campaigns in Bihar, but have problems if he takes out a rally.

"Parties used an Osama bin Laden duplicate during the campaigning in Bihar elections and everybody remained silent. Now, when I am taking out a rally in the name of Vivekananda, what is their problem?" he asked.

Nitish Kumar had earlier sought an assurance from the BJP that Modi will not be NDA's Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2014 general elections.

Kumar had earlier in an interview said that NDA's Prime Ministerial candidate should have secular credentials, which was seen as his clear reservation over Modi's nomination for the post.

Nitish and Modi, the two top NDA leaders are seen as rivals for the post of Prime Minister if case the NDA has a majority in the next elections. The Bihar chief minister, who needs the support of Muslims, did not allow Modi to campaign both in 2005 Assembly elections as well as in 2010 polls.

--With IANS Inputs--