Nitish snubs Modi, returns Kosi flood aid

The Bihar government today returned Rs 5 crore aid to the Gujarat government given to the flood victims during the 2008 Kosi disaster, indicating further coldness in relations between the JD-U and the BJP.

Both are coalition partners in the ruling Nitish Kumar-led NDA government in Bihar.

“The whole issue was against our secular image, so we returned the money”, Bihar’s disaster managment minister Devesh Chandra Thakur told a news channel today.

He added, “(Narendra) Modi has an image of being anti-secular and we don’t want this must affect our party”.

The move follows the publication of an advertisement by the Gujarat government during the two-day BJP national executive committee meet held in Patna wherein it was claimed the government donated Rs 5 crore to Bihar during the Kosi floods.

Another advertisement showed Modi holding aloft the hand of Bihar chief minister in a show of solidarity.

Both the advertisements drew strong reactions from Kumar who described the Gujarat government’s claim as “uncivilized” and later announced to return the Gujarat government’s aid.