Patna, May 20: Chief minister Nitish Kumar is hurt over BJP MP Kirti Azad making a “mountain of a molehill” but was unaware of his bete noire Narendra Modi’s indirect, uncharitable, reference to him. But despite the ongoing war of words between the JD(U) and the BJP, he says the “alliance is intact”.

“I was deeply hurt when I saw Azad’s statements in the newspaper today,” Nitish said. “I’d simply told him he was not required to speak on water-logging in Darbhanga as I was already announcing a scheme to tackle it”.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of his janata durbar, Nitish said that Darbhanga’s BJP MLA Sanjay Saraogi had already drawn his attention to the problem. Nitish, concerned officials and civil society had drawn up an integrated plan and he was about to announce it when Azad intervened.

But Nitish was cautious when asked about Gujarat CM Narendra Modi’s indirect reference to him (Nitish) when he said that there are chief ministers who boast of their popularity but stop their yatras when shown black flags.

“I am not aware of such content,” Nitish said, while holding the opposition RJD responsible for “disturbances” during his Adhikar Yatra last year.

Regarding the JD(U)-BJP ties, Nitish said: “The alliance is intact. I usually say that no one knows about the future. Our alliance is quite old, though we — JD(U) and BJP) — take up independent programmes”.