BJP furious as Bihar police visits Surat over advertisement

There was fresh trouble for the JD(U)-BJP alliance in Bihar as a team of state police visited Surat to question the businessman who had put out the advertisement in Patna newspapers thanking Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi for giving flood relief to the state.

Sources said a Bihar police team led by deputy superintendent of police Rakesh Dubey reached Surat today to question Ashish Chaudhary who had put out the advertisements in newspapers in Patna thanking Modi for providing Rs5 crore Kosi flood relief.

The matter took a serious turn when news of the Bihar police team reaching Surat was leaked before it could contact Gujarat police or meet Chaudhary.

"When BJP came to know that a Bihar police team had been sent to Surat, it took serious note of the matter. Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu contacted JD(U) president Sharad Yadav
to express our anger at this development," a senior BJP leader, preferring anonymity, said.

Soon thereafter, the police team was reportedly asked to return back to Bihar. 

BJP sources said its top leaders from Bihar were furious to know that a Bihar police team had visited Surat.

"This means Nitish is still in a mood for a fight. If he really wants to reconcile why would he send a police team? This may force us to break the alliance with JD(U)," a senior BJP leader said.

This new development is likely to figure prominently in the meeting between BJP president Nitin Gadkari and the party's Bihar unit Core Group later today, sources said.