Date:06/10/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/10/06/stories/2005100607741200.htm

National

Modi to stay away from Bihar campaign

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will not campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party-Janata Dal (United) alliance in Bihar, it was officially announced here.

Although for some time now there were reports that the JD (U) was keen to avoid Mr. Modi's presence in the Bihar campaign lest it affect its ``secular'' voter support base, it was only on Wednesday that the BJP confirmed that Mr. Modi had been asked to stay put in Gujarat till December. The official reason given was that ``crucial'' panchayat elections are to take place in Gujarat and Mr. Modi has to focus all his energies there.

In the last Bihar Assembly elections held in February, the Gujarat riots that followed the Godhra train episode in which more than 50 railway passengers were burnt alive was a major issue. Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad had raised it immediately after the U.C. Banerji Committee's report was made public suggesting that the Godhra episode could have been the result of an accidental fire. The BJP had responded to this by bringing into focus all the riots that had taken place in Bihar under Congress governments.