Fresh strains in JD(U)-BJP ties

Reports that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar does not want Narendra Modi and Varun Gandhi to campaign in the state for assembly polls today created fresh strains in the JD(U)-BJP alliance with saffron party leaders asserting that they cannot be dictated to.

On a day when the leaders of the core group of BJP's Bihar unit were meeting party president Nitin Gadkari, four ministers of the party attended a cabinet meeting chaired by Kumar in a sign that things have not reached a breaking point.

The BJP top brass reviewed its ties with the JD(U) with party leaders from Bihar in the backdrop of senior leader LK Advani being not in favour of the alliance splitting.

Bihar deputy chief minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Modi, who called off a joint appearance with Kumar for the 'Biswas Yatra' on Sunday, met Advani. He was accompanied by party chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad, who also hails from Bihar.

Party sources said Gadkari's meeting with the Bihar core group would be crucial as he will take a decision on the future of ties with JD(U) after listening to the views and advice of the state leaders.

Kumar, who triggered a row with BJP by returning to Gujarat government its Rs5 crore relief for the Kosi flood victims, is reported to have told the BJP that the alliance can continue only if BJP agrees not to field Narendra Modi and Varun Gandi in the election campaign for the Bihar polls expected in October this year.

There was no official word from the JD(U) but leaders speaking on condition of anonymity said there would be no compromise on this issue and that the party had no qualms in going it alone if the BJP remained adamant.

BJP spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain said the party had not received any such message and "we haven't asked for anyone's suggestions."

"When the election campaign starts, BJP will make a list (of campaigners). BJP will decided as to which leader will campaign where," he said.

BJP state president C P Thakur and senior leader Giriraj Singh went a step further, saying there cannot be such pre-conditions in an alliance.

While Thakur felt that Kumar has not put such a condition, Singh, a BJP minister in Bihar, said,"I want to clarify that BJP will decide which minister will come for campaigning. If we need Modi he will definitely come."

Voicing JD(U)'s unease if Modi came for campaigning, party leader Devesh Chandra Thakur said there have been no problems between the alliance all these years. "So, why should anyone insist on Modi and Varun coming to Bihar ? Why are they required here ?

JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav sought to play down the troubles within the alliance, saying "we havbe and will always have a coalition. Elections are fought together...so on this there was and there is no controversy".

In Patna, signalling a possible rapprchement, four BJP ministers Prem Kumar, Renu Devi, Rampravesh Rai and Awadhesh Narain Singh attended the Cabinet meeting at the state secretariat, the first after the recent controversy generated over return of the flood relief fund to Gujarat.

Sushil Kumar Modi,  Nand Kishore Yadav, Ashwini Choubey, R N Mandal and Giriraj Singh were not present.

While Modi, Yadav and Choubey are camping in New Delhi Giriraj Singh, who continued to target Kumar for raising fingers at Narendra Modi, left here for Muzaffarpur for an official function. BJP minister Mandal was away in Purnia, party insiders said.

Meanwhile, two senior JD(U) leaders, on condition of anonymity, said they were averse to the idea of Modi or Varun taking part in campaigning in the state. 

Sources in JDU said that any compromise over allowing Modi and Varun in Bihar during elections is "unlikely" and the party has no qualms in going it alone for the Assembly elections if BJP remains adamant.

Kumar had yesterday sought to downplay the flood aid row with ally BJP, saying there was no cause for tension. 

The crisis in the NDA emerged after Kumar reacted angrily to an advertisement in local dailies on the eve of the June 12-13 BJP national executive meeting which said that the Gujarat government contributed liberally towards relief for victims of the 2008 Kosi floods.

Full page advertisements in local dailies with photographs of Kumar and Narendra Modi holding hands also drew the ire of the Bihar chief minister.