Patna, June 15: Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad today refused to attack external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, under fire for granting an alleged favour to disgraced cricket administrator Lalit Modi, but the two leaders spoke in unison in lambasting the BJP - their common political enemy.

While the RJD boss sounded soft on a "woman" minister, the Bihar chief minister used the occasion to put the BJP in the dock for violating the propriety and rule of law. " Mahila ko tang nahin karna chahiye (A woman should not be harassed)," Lalu said when pressed to react on the issue. He, however, refused to elaborate.

Nitish did not mention Sushma but chose to question the "double-standard" style of functioning of the RSS, BJP and the government. "The Sangh (RSS), BJP and the (Narendra Modi-led) government have a common agenda - protect its own people and punish those who are not their own."

Without naming anyone and without going into the nitty-gritty of the controversy involving Sushma and Lalit Modi, the chief minister said: "The manner in which the external affairs ministry has acted, keeping the finance ministry in the dark, has come out in the open. But the BJP works on the principle of breaking the rules for its own people. It can never adhere to the rule of law.

Expressing surprise over the BJP's efforts to "cover up" the issue, Nitish said: "We learnt from the media that a union minister - on way to a foreign trip - was called back from the airport because he was wearing jeans. If a jeans-clad minister could be identified, how did the issue (of Sushma allegedly favouring Lalit) go unnoticed by the powers-that-be," Nitish asked. "What the BJP been doing for the last one year will come out in the open one by one."

Nitish pointed out that the Enforcement Directorate has been investigating the issue. "They (BJP) did not feel ashamed of favouring someone without securing the consent from the finance ministry. The entire government is involved in the matter. The people are keeping a close watch on it," he said.

Taking a potshot at Union communications minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, a Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar who has been on a Nitish-bashing spree of late, the chief minister said: "BSNL users are fed up with the problem of call drops. He (Prasad) is doing everything other than what he should actually do. If the call-drop problem festers, it may so happen that he is also dropped (from the government)."

Nitish reiterated his charge that the BJP was enacting a "drama" in the name of Yoga. "The Janata parivar factions are sure to merge. As of now we have come together, sending the BJP into a tizzy. Now, the BJP is anxious of the unity of the secular forces and is trying to besmirch the political culture of the state," he said.

Lalu too lashed out at the BJP and targeted Sushil Modi, the party's face in Bihar, saying he should remain in "his senses". "I know all the tactics that Modi (Sushil) can resort to. He should stay in his senses," the RJD chief said.