Nitin Gadkari denies rift between BJP and Nitish Kumar

BJP president Nitin Gadkari today said that there was no rift between the BJP and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on the issue of the latter's Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi campaigning in Bihar.

"I had very cordial talks with Nitish Kumar on the issue of the Bihar elections and Modi. BJP will contest the polls along with JD (U) and there is no problem in it. Talks are on with regard to seat sharing in the poll-bound state," Gadkari told reporters in Bhopal.

As far as the issue of inviting Modi for campaigning is concerned, such decisions are always taken by the state party president in the BJP and only he will take a call on whom to invite or not for electioneering, he said.

Referring to the Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter case, Gadkari said he failed to understand why Gujarat was singled out in the matter when serious criminal cases against Sheikh were registered in number of states including Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan.

It is a known fact that a huge cache of arms including AK-47 rifles and rocket-launchers were recovered from his house and he was listed as a terrorist in various states, he said.

The way things are going on in this regard, it seems the Centre is using the CBI against its political opponents, the BJP president alleged.