Patna, Nov. 17: Agriculture minister Narendra Singh today dubbed Narendra Modi a “terrorist”, prompting the BJP to allege that the JD(U) minister had issued “baseless” statement at the behest of chief minister Nitish Kumar.

“Narendra Modi himself is a terrorist as his BJP got the bombs planted at the Gandhi Maidan ahead of its Hunkar Rally,” Singh said in Jamui, replying to a TV channel’s query if the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate was facing threat from the terror outfits.

Defending the minister, JD(U) spokesperson Sanjay Singh said: “There is hardly anything wrong with our senior minister’s remarks about Narendra Modi. The world knows about the role that the Gujarat chief minister had played during the 2002 riots in the western state.”

The BJP burst into indignation after the remark of Modi’s namesake. “Narendra Singh should substantiate what he has stated about our prime ministerial nominee by facts. If he fails to prove his statement with facts, he should take sanyas (retirement) from politics,” the state BJP chief, Mangal Pandey, told The Telegraph.

Pandey also alleged that the JD(U) minister had made an “abominable and baseless comment on our star campaigner at Nitish’s behest”.

Before spewing venom at his party’s former ally, Narendra Singh had embarrassed the JD(U) leadership by issuing statements. He sounded rebellious at the party’s Chintan Shivir at Rajgir on October 29 by speaking against his party colleagues close to Nitish in the presence of the latter.

“Some clean-shaven entrants have taken the centre stage in the party at the cost of the old and loyal cadre,” Narendra Singh had said, obliquely referring to the former bureaucrat-turned-party MP, RCP Singh, and the BJP renegade in the JD(U), Sanjay Jha.