Amid speculation about a future tie-up between the Congress and the JD(U),after the latter severed relations with the BJP,Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Tuesday said his party was always for secularism and that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was a good human being. Whenever there is talk of secularism or a secular state,the Congress is with it. Its the duty of secular forces to assist each other, Shinde told reporters here. Casteism and communal forces cannot run the country. only secular institutions can run the nation, he said in a veiled attack on the BJP. When I was an MP,he (Nitish) was the Railway minister, Shinde said describing the Bihar Chief Minister as a good human being and as someone known to him from the past. Shinde and Kumar will be travelling together by air to Supual,bordering Nepal,to lay the foundation stone of an SSB recruitment training centre there and to flag the beginning of work on a 552-km Indo-Nepal border road. The Bihar chief minister was present at the airport when Shinde addressed the media. However,they were not seen together at that time. Ever since four Congress MLAs voted in favour of Nitish Kumar during the June 19 trust vote,speculation is rife about a future relationship between the Congress and JD(U). The Congress has severed its ties with RJD in Bihar and is contesting all its elections on its own in the state since the 2009 Parliamentary polls. However,the performance of the Congress has dipped,as reflected by its nominee losing the security deposit in the Maharajganj bypoll.
