Nitish to the Defense of Modi
Patna: April 21, 2008
 Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, at a press conference following his weekly Janata Darbar in Patna on Monday, came out in defense of his deputy and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushil Kumar Modi saying as the head of the state, it was his decision to reshuffle the Cabinet and any attempt to vilify Modi was misguided and meaningless.
Also, Kumar shrugged off any insinuation of threat on the NDA government as suggested by some of the dissidents in the BJP saying such reshuffle are not uncommon in any administration and dissatisfaction and back-biting are part of any coalition and people should not read too much in between the lines.
"The law says we can have only 36 ministers in the Cabinet. We have 36 ministers in place and that brings an end to the question of further expansion despite some voice of dissension in the coalition," Kumar said.
Admitting that there had been some rough patches between the BJP and the JD-U in Karnataka due to recent political developments in that state, the Chief Minister said it was a temporary phase and the situation was not so bad that could not be worked out before any serious damage was done to the coalition.
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