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Blasts at Modi’s Patna rally; 5 dead
A couple of hours before the six multiple explosions, a crude bomb went off in a newly constructed toilet at Platform 10 at the Patna railway station, two km from the venue of BJP's 'Hunkar(battle cry) rally'. Four persons have been detained in Patna, the police said, adding that one of them caught fleeing from the blast site at the railway station appears to be the prime suspect. Some documents and a list of telephone numbers were recovered from the prime suspect whose identity was not revealed. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the blasts. He spoke to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and asked for a speedy probe.
Nitish said the timing of the blasts on the day of his Gujarat counterpart's rally was "very worrying", adding it appeared to be a "deliberate attempt" to vitiate the atmosphere in the state. Nitish said of the 83 injured who had come to Patna Medical College and Hospital, 38 were under treatment and the rest have been discharged. The bombs which exploded were of low intensity, said DGP Abhyanand. It appears that timers were used to trigger the blasts. The DGP said six live bombs were also recovered and defused by the bomb disposal squad. Two unexploded bombs each were recovered from near Mahatma Gandhi's statue, the twin towers — both close to the rally venue — and at the rail platform toilet. Five low intensity blasts occurred on the periphery of the Gandhi Maidan, Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami said in Delhi. Union Minister of State for Home RPN Singh said it was too early to say whether it was a terror attack. The BJP blamed the Bihar Government for "failing to provide" proper security cover for Modi's rally. Nitish, on his part, said: "I would like to assure the BJP that there were no shortcomings in the arrangements.” — PTI
In his rally speech, Modi calls Nitish
a backstabber
Patna, October 27 Modi meticulously attacked arch rival -- Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar -- for “backstabbing” the people of the state by breaking ties with the BJP, asking the people to take revenge for the “betrayal”. He also gave indications of a new political equation with RJD chief Lalu Prasad, currently languishing in jail after his conviction in the fodder scam. This was Modi’s first rally after the BJP’s acrimonious split with the JD-U after his elevation inside the party. Unlike in the past, Modi today refrained from speaking too much on the ‘shehzada’ (Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi). The Congress, he said, was very upset over his references to the ‘shehzada’. “Stop the politics of dynasty and I will stop calling him ‘shehzada’,” he said. Today, he concentrated on Nitish. Modi recounted an instance when he attended a lunch hosted by the PM along with
Nitish.
"He was not eating anything. I told him not to worry as there was no cameramen around. Please go ahead and eat. There is a limit to hypocrisy." He said the BJP gave up its right to form a government in Bihar even though it had more legislators than the JD-U. "For the BJP, the country's interests are more important than the party. We let our friend become the Chief Minister so that jungle raj of the earlier governments could end. I did not come to campaign in Bihar earlier despite requests so that the government doesn't fall and the jungle raj makes a return. The Bihar CM did not cheat the BJP, but the people of the state," he said. "Someone who can ditch JP (Jai Prakash Narayan) can also ditch the BJP," he added. For Lalu, he recounted the connection between Yaduvanshis, Lord Krishna and his abode in Dwaraka, Gujarat. "The abode of the King of Yaduvanshis was in Gujarat. We are bound to have love for you," he said.
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Patna, October 27