Advertisement row over, old ties with BJP, says Sharad Yadav

Janata Dal-United president Sharad Yadav today said the row over an advertisement showing Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi "was over" and that his party had "old ties" with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Janata Dal-United (JD-U) president Sharad Yadav on Sunday said the row over an advertisement showing Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi "was over" and that his party had "old ties" with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

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"The BJP says that the advertisement was given by an ad agency. There is no reason to disbelieve this," Yadav said in New Delhi.

Nitish Kumar, who is a senior JD-U leader, had on Saturday voiced displeasure over the newspaper advertisement.

The JD-U chief said in New Delhi that the episode relating to the advertisement "took place yesterday" and "it was over".

"Both the parties have old ties," he stressed.

The advertisement, published in the name of dozens of people of Bihar who are now settled in Gujarat, projected Modi as a close friend of Nitish Kumar and highlighted the Gujarat government's generous help after the 2008 Kosi floods in Bihar.

An upset Nitish Kumar on Saturday cancelled a dinner he was to host for BJP top leaders, who are in Patna to attend a two-day meeting of the party's national executive. He also threatened legal action against the agency that released the advertisement in vernacular dailies.

The JD-U is in power in Bihar in alliance with the BJP. Both the parties are preparing for assembly polls due in the state later this year.