The strain surfaced ever since the JD(U) national spokesman Shivanand Tiwari suggested that the saffron party introspect and follow the Nitish model.
PATNA: Chief minister Nitish Kumar's claim of cohesion in Bihar's ruling NDA notwithstanding, relations between JD(U) and BJP have come under strain in the state.
The strain surfaced ever since the JD(U) national spokesman Shivanand Tiwari suggested that the saffron party, smarting from electoral reverses in Rajasthan and Delhi, introspect and follow the Nitish model.
Prabhunath Singh, the irrepressible JD(U) parliamentary party leader, who quit the Lok Sabha along with others to protest anti-Bihari violence in Maharashtra orchestrated by Raj Thackeray's MNS, dared the BJP to contest all the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state on its own and it will find it difficult to even fetch five seats.
Singh, one of the most vocal and controversial JD(U) MPs, said addressing a party function organised to felicitate their members for having dared to quit Parliament for Bihari pride, BJP is an alliance partner, but we are not wedded in a bond (like in a marriage) that would last forever.
Just after the saffron party's poll debacle in Rajasthan and Delhi, JD(U) national spokesman Shivanand Tiwari suggested the BJP to introspect and review its poll plank for coming Lok Sabha elections in the wake of its (BJP) defeat.
BJP leadership should adopt the Nitish model followed by the NDA government in Bihar as its national election agenda in the coming Lok Sabha elections, Tiwari suggested the senior partner of the NDA.
The Nitish government has earned the goodwill of minorities in Bihar through its policies despite the BJP being part of the government. The BJP should project the NDA model in Bihar nationally to wrest power from the UPA at the Centre, he said.
Taking strong note of the suggestion made by its alliance partner, BJP's national spokesman and Rajya Sabha member Rajiv Pratap Rudy had advised the JD(U) leaders to desist from making such statements as it would help the RJD during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Expressing ignorance about the Nitish model which he never heard of, Rudy asked Tiwari to explain the new model in detail as we have only heard about Gandhi and Marx models but this new model has aroused the curiosity of my party as well as people of Bihar.
However, the BJP reacted sharply to the suggestion of JD(U) saying the party must explain what was this new model (Nitish model).
Rudy had also suggested the JD(U) leader not to make such sweeping statements which might have an adverse impact on the government and the prospect of chief minister.
The spokesman said NDA would face the people's test in next three to four months in the coming general elections but the state government's model would also be put to test in two year's time.
It is therefore all the more necessary that we maintain a balance while issuing statements that would strain the relations between the two parties running the government in Bihar after adhering to common minimum programme (CMP) Rudy said.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar has said on umpteen times that there was no no differences between the two parties over running the government as both were strictly abiding to CMP.
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