Modi tears into Nitish, says Bihar will never forgive him

BJP national campaign committee chairman and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi kicked off his campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections by directly attacking  Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for snapping ties with the BJP. He said the people of Bihar would never forgive him for the move.
In his interaction with around 1500 party workers through teleconferencing on Saturday Modi not only discussed the poll strategy for the upcoming parliamentary election at length, but also explained how Bihar and Gujarat have historically been close to each other.
Taking on the Bihar CM on his own turf, the Gujarat CM even mentioned how Dr Rajendra Prasad, who hailed from Bihar, was close to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The latter played a key role in Prasad becoming the first President of the country, he said.He also mentioned that most politicians in his age group are products of the Jai Prakash Narayan movement that had it’s epicentre in Bihar.
“The relation of Bihar and Gujarat is very old and we also celebrate Bihar Diwas in Surat and Ahmedabad. We are made for each other” Modi said.
Modi has strategically started his campaign from the land of his political bête noir Nitish Kumar, who snapped the 17-year-old alliance of his party with the NDA because he was averse to Modi’s elevation within the party.
“The campaign would help in boosting the morale of the party workers who sacrificed party alliance on the issue of Modi and at the same time the political tips to grassroots workers would certainly raise their self esteem to work hard for coming parliamentary election.” BJP party sources said.
“This move was also planned to take direct feedback from workers, particularly after parting away from JD(U)in Bihar” the sources said.
Meanwhile, the JD(U) party in Bihar labelled the move by Modi a political drama. ”The use of a high-tech campaign is purely an urban phenomenon and nothing to do with the large rural mass of the country. How many people have TV and IT access in rural areas “asked Bihar JD(U) President Bashist Narayan Singh.
He further said that the BJP has not learnt a lesson from how its “feel good” campaign boomeranged in the 2004 parliamentary election