Patna: The BJP appears to be shell-shocked after its actor-turned-MP Shatrughan Sinha called Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar the country's best chief minister.

Bharatiya Janata Party leaders here admitted privately that Sinha's statement of Saturday was "a big embarrassment" for their party, more so since his praised came hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted Nitish Kumar.

A senior BJP leader, Sinha represents the Patna Sahib Lok Sabha seat.

"The way Shatrughan ji lauded Nitish only hours after the prime minister attacked him in Muzaffarpur is an embarrassment," a senior BJP leader said.

Addressing a public rally on Saturday, Modi said Nitish Kumar had strangled Bihar's development by ending his party's alliance with the BJP and joining hands with the RJD.

Sinha visited Nitish Kumar Saturday night and later described the chief minister as a "guardian of the state".

In the past too, Sinha has praised Nitish Kumar as a nice human and as a man of principles.

(IANS)