Recent communal violence in Bihar carefully orchestrated: CM Nitish

Patna: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Wednesday rejected BJP and AIMIM's allegations of administrative lapses in the recent communal riots at Bihar Sharif and Sasaram during the Ram Navami festivities and said the communal disturbances at both the places were carefully orchestrated by "some people".

Making a veiled attack on Union home minister Amit Shah, Nitish said, "One place where he (Shah) had to visit, the clashes were deliberately orchestrated. The other place is Bihar Sharif. The type of mischief they planned in Bihar Sharif, it all will be exposed after a few days."

Nitish was apparently referring to Shah's cancelled tour to Sasaram where he was scheduled to visit on Sunday to address a rally indoor of Mauryan emperor Ashoka.

Responding to media queries on the sidelines of a government function organized on the birth anniversary of former deputy prime minister Babu Jagjivan Ram, Nitish said, "Some people have played mischief at both the places. Some people deliberately orchestrated the disturbances. But all administrative officers did good job and successfully controlled it.... Officers are now visiting each house in the affected areas and interacting with affected people to find out (the truth). People will know the wrongdoers after a few days." Bihar Sharif is the headquarters of Nitish's home district Nalanda.

The Bihar CM's remarks come a day after his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee claimed the BJP was bringing.

Deputy CM Tejeshwin Prasad Yadav said there was a well-planned conspiracy to incite riots in Bihar. "Bihar is being targeted continuously. Earlier an attempt was made to make Bihar fight with the people of Tamil Nadu and now these riots," Tejeshwin said here on Wednesday.

However, BJP Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi dared Nitish to order a judicial inquiry into the recent incidents of riots in Bihar.

To a question, Nitish also expressed his displeasure over Shah taking feed- back about the communal riots from the governor, instead of the "chief minister of an elected government".

"Just go through the Constitution of this country. Such thing never happened. The Union ministers are not supposed to speak only to the governor. They should speak to the state government," Nitish pointed out.