Will BJP-JD(U) marriage survive the day?

The now-stormy relationship between the BJP and the JD-U had an eventful day on Thursday as top leaders of the national party made great efforts to keep the marriage alive — but the regional ally only seemed to go farther away, planning new ties.

Top BJP leaders, including LK Advani, Rajnath Singh and MM Joshi, spoke to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and JD-U chief Sharad Yadav to convince them not to take any precipitate action. They urged the JD-U leaders not to go to the extent of breaking the alliance which had swept the assembly polls in Bihar in 2010 and put up a good show in the last Lok Sabha elections in 2009.

“The alliance will continue. We are trying to ensure that it continues. We do not want to part ways,” the BJP chief Rajnath Singh said.

However, Nitish Kumar kept the BJP on tenterhooks over the continuance in the NDA, saying his party is “concerned” about the “recent developments” in the BJP and his party would take a call on them after discussing the matter within the party.

At the same time, he said it would be “good” if regional parties like the JD-U, the Trinamool Congress and the BJD form a common front.

Sharad Yadav and Nitish Kumar are meeting in Patna on Friday to look at the Modi question. Kumar said in Patna on Thursday that the there is a possibility of the federal front, mooted by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, taking shape in the future.

Meanwhile, the Third Front idea got a new supporter in the Samajwadi Party, with Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav welcoming formation of a non-Congress, non-BJP alliance.

The BJP has taken the stance that the alliance is an electoral mandate which the people of Bihar gave to the NDA and it was to not allow the misrule of Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD. The BJP’s argument is that the JD-U’s pulling out of the NDA would be a betrayal of the popular mandate.

The BJP is of the view that if the JD-U walks out of the NDA, Nitish would not be able to win another election on the basis of the Muslim vote because Lalu Prasad Yadav would have a stake in it too. The BJP feels that a significant chunk of the upper caste/class vote it brings to the table is of crucial importance to the JD-U.

Howver, JD-U leaders think that the sophisticated and statesmanly talk of the BJP is a tactic, and the BJP would not hesitate to project Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate at a later time, catching them off the guard.

They feel that parting of ways has to be now because only then the party would have time to strategise and look for viable alliance options.
–With agency inputs