Mutiny on the NDA

Call it the Modi effect. After the internal storm over LK Advani’s resignation drama, long-time allies BJP and JD(U) are now at loggerheads.

Four days after the elevation of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, the ultimate threat to the secular JD(U), cracks in the alliance are not only showing, but also widening.

The political circles on Wednesday were rife with talks of an imminent split. Reports said JD(U) leader and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar cancelled all official engagements after Friday. Kumar on Tuesday met several Independents who may make up the shortfall if he breaks ties with the BJP. Kumar’s JD(U) is only five short of the majority mark of 122 in the 243-member state assembly.

BJP sources said Kumar is overestimating his political strength in the state and treating the BJP with scant respect. Irate BJP leaders have stopped mounting platitudes on the ally and are ready to part ways. The question now is: Who will make the first move?
Asked if the JD(U) would want to break away, a party source said, “The BJP is the senior and bigger partner, and it is the duty of the elder ally to keep the family (alliance) together.”

BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said: “JD(U) president Sharad Yadav has said the alliance is on and I will go by what he says and not what the others in his party are saying.”

The mood on both sides, however, remains tense. The defeat of JD(U) candidate Prakash Sahi in the Maharajganj Lok Sabha byelection to RJD’s Prabhunath Singh recently led to an open tiff between the allies. “BJP workers distributed sweets in Maharajganj when our candidate lost,” a JD(U) functionary said. BJP leaders were happy because, according to them, this shows that the JD(U) is dependent on the BJP.

While the cold war had been brewing for a while, signs of a clear divide only emerged this week. Asked if this was due to Modi’s new assignment, the JD(U) functionary said, “He (Modi) has bulldozed the BJP in Gujarat and he will bulldoze the BJP in the country. He will want to do the same thing in the NDA as well.”

He said Advani spoke to Yadav and Kumar and asked them not to take any drastic action.

Meanwhile, JD(U) general secretary and Rajya Sabha member KC Tyagi met Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata. She has expressed her willingness for the formation of a Federal Front comprising all regional parties. Asked if the JD(U) liked the idea, Tyagi said, “We are in the NDA.”

Biju Janata Dal member in the Lok Sabha, Bhartrihari Mahtab, said Kumar called up Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik after a public rally seeking special status for the state and expressed support for his demand. He, however, said it is too early to talk about a new front.

Clearly, the elevation of Modi to a national role has created ripples among both NDA and non-NDA parties, which have started strategising for the Lok Sabha elections to be held next year.