Patna: The BJP on Tuesday virtually snubbed Upendra Kushwaha's kheer theory, with a BJP leader saying that people of the Kushwaha caste are more identified with vegetable cultivation than growing paddy, even as the RLSP leader and Union minister fired a fresh salvo at chief minister Nitish Kumar.

During the birth centenary celebration of BP Mandal at SK Memorial Hall here on August 25, Kushwaha had said in Hindi that the milk of Yadavs and rice of Kushwahas would make the perfect kheer, sparking speculation that the RLSP was going to walk out of the BJP-led NDA camp to tie-up with the RJD.

"We are not known for specialising in selling milk or growing rice," Bihar BJP vice-president and former minister Samrat Choudhary, who too belongs to the Kushwaha caste, said on Tuesday.

"Our specialisation happens to be vegetable cultivation. I fail to understand the kheer theory," he added.

Upendra had days after his kheer statement said he was not talking about any political realignment and that he had been speaking in the context of unity of all castes. However, by then RJD leader and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav had extended a virtual invitation to the Union minister to join the Grand Alliance. Countering Tejashwi's statement, BJP leaders had maintained that RJD leaders were unsuccessfully trying to woo Kushwaha who was very much part of the NDA.

The statement of Samrat Choudhary on Tuesday, however, was the first such statement in which Kushwaha's kheer theory was directly questioned.

Party sources said that even though BJP stood for keeping all its constituents intact ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, it did want to send a message to the JDU and all the NDA member parties that anyone who criticises Nitish would not be treated kindly.

"It is a well known fact that Upendra Kushwaha has spoken against Nitish on several occasions even after the JDU became part of the NDA. Such things don't augur well for the NDA's unity. Hence, a Kushwaha leader from our party has questioned the new equations which the RLSP leader is trying to put in place," a BJP insider said.

He also maintained that after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it was Nitish who had the capacity to fetch votes from across all sections of the society in Bihar.

The BJP, the leader stressed, stood for using this strength in the coming general election instead of remaining silent against those who were raising questions against him.

Kushwaha, however, took potshots at Nitish on Tuesday. PTI reported that in Hajipur, where he had gone to meet the family members of a slain party worker, Kushwaha said: "Killings and murders are taking place... The chief minister should himself take cognisance of such incidents and discuss with his officials why such lawlessness is prevailing in the state."