Purnea, June 22: Chief minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi today put up a united show in sharp contrast to the divided Opposition while campaigning for the BJP candidate for the Purnea Assembly seat, Kiran Keshari. The bypoll for the seat is slated for June 25.

Keeping an eye on the Muslim votes in Purnea, the chief minister dwelt at length on how he had constituted a judicial commission to probe into the police firing at a Forbesganj village in neighbouring Araria district on June 3 in which four persons belonging to the minority community had died.

“We will not spare the culprits. We will ensure justice in the case,” Nitish said.

Both, Nitish and Modi addressed an election meeting, exhorting the electorate to repose their faith in Kiran — the BJP nominee and the widow of slain MLA Rajkishore Keshari. The Purnea seat is vacant after Rupam Pathak allegedly knifed Rajkishore to death in January. The Central Bureau of Investigation is probing the case.

The two leaders preferred silence over the Rupam-Rajkishore episode that has kept the politics in the region on boil. Rupam alleged that her repeated “physical exploitation” had driven her to take the extreme step against Rajkishore. Her statement can spoil the BJP’s image in the eyes of the people.

Sources said the two leaders did not find it “politically correct” to raise the issue in the run-up to the crucial bypoll on the seat that has been the BJP’s pocket-borough in the past four elections with slain Rajkishore winning it consecutively.

Rather than bringing alive the “ghost”, Nitish deliberated at length on his campaign against corruption, assuring people that his government had initiated the process to confiscate the property of corrupt officials and put them behind the bars. Nitish also focussed on his schemes to distribute cycles and uniforms to the students, which are quite popular in the area.

Launching a scathing attack on the CPM nominee, Amit Sarkar, Modi claimed the former had gone to meet Pappu Yadav — a convict in his father’s murder case — prior to getting the ticket from the CPM. The BJP animal husbandry minister, Giriraj Singh, pointed out how Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan were singing in different tunes in Purnea.

While the manner in which Rajkishore was killed might be causing embarrassment in the NDA, the ruling camp must be rejoicing the opposition parties’ fight among themselves here.

While the RJD has extended support to the CPM nominee, the LJP has decided to back the Congress candidate, Ramcharitra Yadav, who finished second in the 2010 elections.