Patna, July 2: Nitish Kumar today hit back at the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for suggesting through its mouthpiece that the Bihar chief minister could quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) if he “wished so”.

“I have nothing to do with the RSS. Some BJP leaders and the RSS were critical of me when I had said stated that change of religion does not change the caste of the convert concerned at a parliamentary debate in 2004,” the chief minister said.

Nitish’s recent statement demanding the NDA to declare its prime ministerial candidate of a secular credential ahead of the Lok Sabha elections had triggered verbal duels between leaders of the JD(U) and the Sangh parivar.

The chief minister pointed out that his party’s alliance with the BJP was “political” in nature.

“We did not compromise on the matter of principles,” he said, clarifying, “We have been working on a common minimum programme that stipulates that Article 370 (special status to Jammu and Kashmir) will not be abolished and uniform civil code will not be imposed. Besides, the issue of the Babri mosque has to be solved either through a court order or through mutual consensus between the parties concerned.”

Replying to a query related to the Bihar government’s emulating the Gujarat’s master plan for developing its cities, Nitish had words of praises for the western state.

“Gujarat has been a developed state. It is the birthplace of the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi. Lord Krishna’s Dwarka too was settled in Gujarat,” he said, adding, “What is wrong in handing down good skills and knowledge from within the country and outside?”

Though he did not take the name of his Gujarat counterpart, Narendra Modi, Nitish said, “I am sticking to what I have stated on the issue of secularism. We have our principles and will stick to it.”