PATNA: In less than 24 hours after JD(U) publicly expressed its “anguish” over the BJP inducting six of its seven MLAs into the party in Arunachal Pradesh, the saffron party on Monday went on a damage-control mode to ward off any threat to the continuance of the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government in Bihar.
“In Bihar, the BJP-JD(U) alliance is ‘atoot’ (unbreakable). We have firm belief that the NDA government will work for its full five-year term under the leadership of Nitish,” BJP senior leader and Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi (SuMo) said on Monday on the sidelines of a function to mark the birth anniversary of former Union finance minister Arun Jaitley at Kankarbagh here.
Nitish is leading the NDA government of four parties — BJP, JD(U), Hindustani Awam Morcha- Secular (HAM-S) and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP). Earlier, Nitish led the NDA government of JD(U) and BJP in Bihar for 11 of the last 15 years with SuMo as his deputy.
Nitish on Monday relinquished the post of JD(U) national president and installed RCP Singh at the post, ostensibly to make it clear that he had no more stomach left to handle the differences that might crop up between the two parties in the future and, in that situation, it would be the responsibility of Singh to do it.
Asked if the level of coordination between BJP and JD(U) has suffered due to his being elected to Rajya Sabha and consequent shift to Delhi, SuMo said, “No, there is no lack of coordination between the two parties. Even in the past (when he himself was deputy CM), there had occurred some differences on occasions, but the leadership of the two parties always resolved them. There will be ‘behtar taalmel’ (better coordination) between them. The leadership of the two parties are capable of it.”
Congratulating RCP on his appointment as JD(U) president, SuMo hoped the “coordination between the two parties will become stronger”.
All that notwithstanding, sources said the developments in Arunachal Pradesh had left Nitish “anguished” and “personally fuming”, as it had happened just a day before the start of the JD(U)’s two-day national executive meeting at Patna from December 26.
For an immediate fallout of that, Nitish disclosed at the JD(U) national executive meet that given the party’s just 43 wins compared to BJP’s 74 in the recently held assembly elections, he had desired not to become the CM and it was under “pressure” from the BJP’s top national and state brass that he agreed to hold the post, again.
“No, the reference to the ‘pressure’ meant that he did not want to become the CM, but BJP told him that the party had decided that Nitish will be the CM because the mandate the NDA had received was in his name. We all requested him, the JD(U), HAM(S) and VIP also did it, that the NDA government will work under the guidance of PM Narendra Modi and the leadership of Nitish. Also, that the number (wins or losses) did not matter, and the votes had come to the NDA on his name,” SuMo said.
As to the confusions caused by the developments in Arunachal, SuMo said the “JD(U) people” have clarified that it there will have “no impact” on the NDA in Bihar. “We don’t have information as to what all happened in that state. Therefore, we will not comment on it,” SuMo said.