Amit Shah pulls up Giriraj Singh over 'Iftar jibe'

Amit Shah

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday pulled up Cabinet colleague and party leader Giriraj Singh over his jibe at BJP allies -Janata Dal-United JD(U) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) - for hosting Iftar parties.

Shah called up and asked Singh to refrain from making such statements, sources told ANI.

In a tweet, earlier on Tuesday, Singh said that it would be better if JD (U) and LJP organised such gatherings during Navratri.

The Begusarai MP had tweeted four photos featuring Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan and his son Chirag Paswan wearing skull caps and attending Iftar parties.

Singh's Hindi tweet roughly translates to, "How beautiful the pictures would have been if fruit only feasts were organised during Navratri with similar affection? Why do we fall behind when it comes to our own practices and religion and ahead in showoff?"

Singh's sharp attack came days after Kumar's JD(U) opted out of the BJP-led central Cabinet citing lack of "proportionate representation" being offered to the NDA allies.

Soon after, in the expansion of Bihar Cabinet only JD(U) MLAs were inducted in the vacant berths.

Nitish Kumar too on Tuesday rebuked the union minister and said Singh makes such statements so that media makes news out of it.

"He (Giriraj Singh) does all this so that media makes news out of it," said Kumar while speaking to media here.

In a sharp retort, JD(U)'s Ashok Chaudhary dubbed Singh as a "hard Hindutva leader'' and said he should not be taken seriously.

"Giriraj Singh shouldn't be taken much seriously as he tries to portray himself as a hard Hindutva leader. We don't know what he has in mind, but his tongue is only for hard Hindutva," Chaudhary told reporters here.

He also warned Singh and urged him to refrain from commenting against the Bihar Chief Minister.

"Giriraj Singh should restrain himself from using these words against Nitish Kumar. This is a government of 'gathbandhan' and all the coalition leaders helped him win by four lakh votes from his seat (Begusarai)," Chaudhary said.

Apart from Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Sushil Modi attended the iftar hosted by Ram Vilas Paswan at his residence here on Monday.

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