Nitish praises PM Modi for 'very quick' response to Nor'wester

Purnia (Bihar), Apr 24: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who had severed ties with the BJP for projecting Narendra Modi as Prime Ministerial candidate before the last Lok Sabha elections, on Friday praised and thanked him for "very quick" response to the state after the killer Nor'wester.

"I want to thank the honourable Prime Minister and the honourable Home Minister for their assurance to provide help to the disaster hit Bihar.

"Central government's response was very quick. We are thankful to them," he said in presence of Home Minister Rajnath Singh after conducting an aerial survey of nor'wester hit areas.

The toll in the killer Nor'wester in Bihar rose to 55 with one more person dying today in the worst-hit Purnea district even as an alert has been sounded for north-eastern regions of the state about possibility of a thunder squall and rains.

Kumar said soon after the disaster hit the North Bihar districts on Tuesday night, the Home Minister had telephoned him in the next morning while the Prime Minister called up in the evening and the Finance Minister a day later.

"All of them assured us that the central government will provide help to the state government to deal with the situation. We are thankful to them," he said.

BJP ministers in central government from Bihar Ravi Shankar Prasad and Radha Mohan Singh and his former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi were present when Nitish Kumar praised the Prime Minister.

The bonhomie was witnessed when they had lunch together sitting in the same table. Kumar had strongly opposed projection of Modi as Prime Ministerial candidate of BJP and went to the extent of severing his party JD-U's ties with BJP.

He even quit the Chief Ministership after the BJP won last Lok Sabha polls under the leadership of Modi. Kumar returned as Chief Minister of Bihar only last month.

PTI