RSS supports Narendra Modi as PM, slams Nitish Kumar

New Delhi - 20 June 2012: RSSchief Mohan Bhagwat on Wednesday supported Gujarat chief ministerNarendra Modias NDA's prime ministerial candidate and slammedBiharCMNitish Kumarfor saying that NDA should have a secular PM nominee.

"To keep alive the Hindutva ideology, the Hindu 'samaaj' (society) should come together. And the country should have a prime minister who believes in that ideology or propounds that view," Bhagwat told reporters.

Bhagwat's comments came a day after Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar hit out at Narendra Modi without naming him and said that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by theBharatiya Janata Party, should announce a secular PM candidate for the 2014Lok Sabhaelections. Nitish Kumar on Tuesday made it clear that Modi is unacceptable as an NDA candidate for PM. "Will Nitish decide what sort of person makes a good PM?" Bhagwat questioned. He also slammed Nitish Kumar and said that he is scared to call himself a Hindu.

The RSS support for Modi comes a day after Bihar CM and JD(U) strongman Nitish Kumar said publicly that the NDA's prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections should be "secular and liberal". This was seen in political circles as his rejection of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi as a possible candidate for the PM's post.

Kumar said in an interview to ET that the leader of a coalition should have secular credentials and a liberal frame of mind. Nitish slammed NDA and asked it to declare its PM candidate well ahead of the Lok Sabha elections so that people get to know whom they would vote for.

Attacking Modi is being seen as Kumar's attempt to establish his credentials among Bihar Muslims.

source: TOI