In comments which could spell fresh trouble for BJP-JD(U) alliance, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has said NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate should be somebody with “secular credentials”, apparently giving a thumbs down to his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday sparked of the Prime Ministerial candidate debate by indirectly saying that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was unacceptable as the Prime Minister.

In an interview to the national daily ‘Economic Times’, Nitish Kumar insisted that the NDA should name its Prime Ministerial candidate before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and the candidate must have secular credentials and a liberal frame of mind.

The Congress has also welcomed Nitish Kumar’s demand for a secular Prime Minister. “Be it the NDA or any party, if they emphasise that our Prime Minister should be secular, then it’s a welcome thing,” Law Minister Salman Khurshid said.

Modi hits back at Nitish Kumar

Soon after Nitish Kumar made clear his opposition to Narendra Modi, the BJP’s poster boy hit back taking a jibe at the JD(U) leader’s secular prime ministerial candidate remarks.

Modi took to micro-blogging site Twitter, apparently taking a dig at Kumar.

“Will is caused by character, and character by Karma. As is Karma, so is the manifestation of the will,” he tweeted.