Patna:
Exactly a week after 23 children, some as young as four, died from a poisoned school lunch, political parties remain committed to inscribing the tragedy with vicious agendas.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his senior ministers have found a conspiracy mantra and are sticking to it. They insist that that the food that was served as part of the free mid-day meal scheme was deliberately laced with pesticide.
Mr Kumar, often described as a politician with a people's touch has yet to visit the village of Gandabal, just 80 kms from Patna, which has been shattered by the disaster.
The BJP today questioned why the Bihar CM "is too unwell to meet the people of Bihar" but is able to meet all his party members.
"We want to tell Janata Dal-United (JD-U), you can't escape by blaming others for your mistakes. The party is trying to play politics over people's pain," said BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain.
The Bihar Chief Minister, addressing party workers on Monday, did not tread higher moral ground. He suggested that another recent crisis in his state - 10 explosions in quick succession on a Saturday morning in the pilgrimage town of Bodh Gaya -was also engineered to destabilize his government by political rivals.
"No doubt facts seemed to indicate possibility of conspiracy and deliberate sabotage, but the final word will only come after investigations are complete," said Pavan Verma, Advisor, Culture and Information, to Mr Nitish Kumar.
Mr Kumar and his Janata Dal United (JD-U) quit a 17-year partnership with the BJP last month over its decision to place Narendra Modi in charge of its election campaign. Since then, the two parties have been locked in a relentless war of words over various issues.