By IANS,
New Delhi/Patna: As ties between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar remained strained, the BJP Monday held two rounds of discussions on the political situation in Bihar, where it is part of the ruling coalition with the Janata Dal-United, but deferred till Tuesday a decision on whether to continue with the alliance.
“BJP President (Nitin Gadkari) has decided that any decision will be taken after meeting with Bihar unit core group tomorrow (Tuesday) at 9 p.m.. He has consulted all leaders, national leaders like us,” BJP spokesperson Syed Shahnawz Hussain told reporters here.
Party chief Gadkari held two meetings in the capital.
His first meeting was with the parliamentary board chairman L.K. Advani and former president Venkaiah Naidu at Advani’s residence. This was followed by the second meeting with BJP Bihar chief C.P.Thakur and Shahnawaz Hussain.
In Patna, the tension was evident where JD-U leader Nitish Kumar and his BJP deputy Sushil Modi avoided each other at the swearing-in-ceremony of the new chief justice of the Patna High Court. Neither of them spoke to each other. On Sunday, Sushil Modi had boycotted a march by Nitish Kumar, who retaliated by cancelling an evening event of the march.
The chief minister, before leaving for a rally, flashed a smile towards reporters and said: “There is no need to take tension. Try to be relaxed.”
The differences between Nitish Kumar and the BJP boiled over June 12 after newspaper advertisements featuring him and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi appeared in vernacular dailies in Bihar. A peeved Nitish Kumar on Saturday returned Rs.5 crore to Gujarat given for flood relief by Modi.
On Monday, the BJP put up a brave face in New Delhi and said things are “under control” and the alliance was “intact”.
Bihar BJP chief C.P. Thakur and party spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain met with party veteran L.K. Advani to explore the possibilities of calling a truce with the JD-U ahead of assembly elections due in October.
“We are running a vehicle of development in Bihar together with JD-U… We are not against progress, so we are trying to put it back together,” Hussain told reporters here.
Thakur later said the BJP was keen to continue with the 14-year-old alliance, but wanted Nitish Kumar to take some conciliatory steps to end the strain in relations.
Thakur said the state unit was “hurt” at the chief minister’s decision to return the Rs.5 crore flood relief money sent by the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat.
He said the BJP wanted the coalition to continue but the party would not compromise on dignity. “We want the coalition should stay but with dignity,” Thakur told IANS.
Thakur said the JD-U was also in favour of continuing the alliance.
But despite public statements indicating possible rapproachment, sections in both the JD-U and the BJP are reportedly against continuing the alliance, fuelling speculation that the relationship would snap.
BJP spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain had met JD-U chief Shard Yadav and asked him to decide on the party’s stand on the alliance. The JD-U has yet to respond.
As the allies bickered, their political rivals had a field day.
Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said the BJP-led NDA was crumbling.
He said the NDA “may exist on paper but it was only matter of time before the remaining constituents also start looking for alternatives”.
Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Ram Vilas Paswan said he would wait and watch to see what Nitish Kumar’s moves were.
“We have to see whether Nitish Kumar is enacting an electoral drama. Otherwise, why this sudden reversal of stand by Nitish Kumar? He had no problem with the BJP, the RSS and Narendra Modi for the past four-and-a-half years,” Paswan told IANS.