NDA constituents petrified by Modi's shadow: Congress

The Congress Saturday took a dig at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi over the Bihar government returning the Rs.5 crore unutilised amount of Kosi flood relief, saying that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) constituents were "petrified of his shadow falling on them".

The Congress Saturday took a dig at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi over the Bihar government returning the Rs.5 crore unutilised amount of Kosi flood relief, saying that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) constituents were "petrified of his shadow falling on them".

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"I don't think that returning Rs.5 crore is important. What is important is the thought behind it. The constituents of NDA are petrified by the shadow of the Gujarat Chief Minister falling on them. They do not want to be tainted by such an association," Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said.

He said it clearly showed that "NDA was history and only its last rites are left to be performed".

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Saturday returned the Rs.5 crore given by the Gujarat government during 2008 Kosi floods after being miffed at the advertisements featuring him and Modi without his consent.

Upset over the advertisements which spoke of relief provided by the Gujarat government to the state, Nitish Kumar had said last week that he would return unutilised money.

The advertisements appeared in Patna dailies on the first day of the Bharatiya Janata Party's national executive meeting in the city. Kumar had also cancelled a dinner he was to host for BJP leaders.

The BJP, however, sought to play down the issue.

Party spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said the flood relief money was a gesture for the people of Bihar and it would have been better if the amount had not been returned.

"Whenever there is an emergency, one state helps the other. And in the case of relief funds, there is no politics," he said.