A BJP worker takes part in the victory day celebrations organised by the party in honour of Veer Kuer Singh in Patna on Saturday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, April 23: BJP leader Rajnath Singh today sprang to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s defence in the backyard of Nitish Kumar and went a step further to add that Bihar was following in the footsteps of the western state.

Modi, in spite of his image of having successfully led the industrial boom in Gujarat, is anathema to Nitish. The chief minister had forced his alliance partner to keep his Gujarat counterpart away from the election campaign last year as he did not wish to upset Muslim voters and spoil his “secular” credentials. Modi was chief minister during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Rajnath, who had publicly hailed Nitish as the “best chief minister” in India during his January visit to the state, today said Modi could not have done the “things” alleged by IPS officer Sanjiv Rajendra Bhatt in an affidavit to the Supreme Court. Bhatt, deputy commissioner with the state Intelligence Bureau at the time of the riots, has said in his affidavit — which he has filed on his own — that Modi gave “directions” to the police to “let Hindus vent their anger” on the night before the carnage began.

“As far as I personally know Narendra Modi, he (Modi) would not have done such things. Modi’s work for the development of Gujarat is matchless… Whatever praise is showered on Modi for his development work is little,” Rajnath said at a news conference here.

The BJP leader then likened Bihar with Gujarat. “Bihar too is progressing fast under the Nitish Kumar-led NDA. The state will be like Gujarat in the next five years of NDA rule,” Rajnath, a former BJP president, added.

Rajnath refused to comment on Modi’s future in the aftermath of the IPS officer’s claims. “I do not want to speak on the issue which is sub judice in the court of law. Let the court adjudicate,” he said.

Rajnath was flanked by deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, known for his proximity to Nitish, road construction minister Nandkishore Yadav and several other senior BJP leaders. But none of them, including Sushil Modi, chose to comment on Rajnath’s likening Bihar to Gujarat.

There was no immediate reaction from the Bihar chief minister on Rajnath’s statements. Janata Dal (United) leaders, however, said in private conversations that Nitish would not have liked a senior BJP leader to praise Modi on Bihar’s soil.