New Delhi, June 19 (IBNS): Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid on Tuesday welcomed the comments made by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar that Bhratiya Janata Party (BJP) should name their Prime Ministerial candidate for 2014 and he should have 'secular credentials'.

Khurshid said India is secular country and the Prime Minister of the country has to be 'secular'.

"I think it is a welcome thing. We are a secular country, so our Prime Minister must be secular," Khurshid told media.

 "If there was any doubt about this in any political organisation, their own leaders are now coming out and saying this clearly. It is a welcome thing," he said.

"Nitish Kumar has said that the Indian Prime Minister should be secular. I am hundred percent in agreement," he said.

Kumar created a new embarrassment for the BJP as he said that the party must name their Prime Ministerial candidate for 2014.

His move seemed to be aimed at the growing influence of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi with whom he exchanged several barbs in the past.

In an interview to The Economic Times, Nitish Kumar said the voters must know who the BJP is selecting in the general elections in 2014 as the PM candidate.

"The leader of the coalition should have secular credentials and liberal frame of mind," he said, reminding of Modi's image after the 2002 Gujarati riots in which the Muslims were killed.

"It should be someone who has absolute faith in democratic values. In a multi-religious and multi-lingual country like ours, the leader should not have rough edges in his personality," he told the financial daily.

He said he himself is not in the race for PM.

"I cannot even dream of that high office. The prime minister should be from the bigger party. We can only play a supporting role," he said.

The Janata Dal (United) leader has already differed with the BJP in the choice for Presidential polls. He supports the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) candidate Pranab Mukherjee as the next President.