The Samata Party and the BJP were two opposite poles in terms of ideology, but despite this, except for the intervening five years (when the JDU flip-flopped between NDA and RJD-led mahagathbandhan or grand alliance), both the parties remained in alliance and ran the government in Bihar and also remained partners at the Centre. Despite calling himself secular, Nitish Kumar had no problem with the BJP, not even when serious questions were raised on the role of then Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots. Rather, he praised Modi and asked the people of Gujarat to forget the 2002 riots. “What happened (in 2002) was a blot. But it is not good if we remember just that and forget the other things that are happening. I congratulate Narendra bhai. Gujarat’s development is helpful for India and if Gujarat develops, the nation will also develop,” Nitish Kumar said in December 2003 while inaugurating a railway project in Kutch, Gujarat as rail minister.