After pleading to salvage the alliance for days, Bihar BJP wasted no time in launching a fierce offensive against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar soon after he announced his decision to walk out of the NDA on Sunday.
Indicating what Kumar could expect in the days to come, the BJP decided to observe “Vishwasghat Diwas” (betrayal day) throughout the State on June 18 to expose the JD(U) before the people.
The State BJP has also called ‘Bihar Bandh’ on that day to mobilise people against Nitish Kumar for not keeping his promises to the people prior to the 2010 State Assembly election.
Soon after Nitish announced his party’s decision to dump the BJP, his former deputy and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi told newspersons that June 16 will be remembered as a Black Day in the "political history" of Bihar as the JD(U) betrayed the confidence of the people by leaving the NDA.
He said that the people of the State will take revenge from the Nitish Kumar Government in the 2014 lok Sabha election for betraying them.
Asserting that Nitish Kumar was pursuing the politics of convenience by raking up the issue of communalism, Modi said that most BJP leaders were called communal one time or the other, but the same people also accepted them.
“Narendra Modi will also become a secular leader after the 2014 lok Sabha elections,” he quipped. Taking a further dig at Nitish Kumar, Modi said that anybody can brand BJP a communal party when he does not find the utility of its association with the party any more.
Referring to Narendra Modi's growing graph of popularity, he said that some people are not able to digest the unprecedented acceptability of a person belonging to a poor family and also coming from an Extremely Backward Caste. He said that Gujarat has not witnessed any communal riots under the leadership of Narendra Modi.
He said that one should not get scared if Narendra Modi does not come from any dynastic family.
A person who was not communal in 2002 is now branded as a leader lacking secular credentials, Modi added.
Barring the Congress and a few other parties, the BJP has formed the Government either at the Centre or at the State level by forging alliances with all other parties, the BJP leader added.
He said that both the BJP and the JD(U) had contested the 2010 State Assembly election together and BJP voters voted for the JD(U) candidate while JD(U) voters exercised their franchise in favour of BJP candidates.
The NDA got a massive majority in the elections on the strength of good governance and improved law and order situation, Modi added.
Though the BJP did not ask that Nitish Kumar seek fresh mandate, Modi suggested that Kumar should resign from the post as he was elected as an NDA Chief Minister.
" It would have been morally correct on the part of Nitish Kumar had he resigned from his post and subsequently got himself elected as leader of the JD(U) legislative party for his re-appointment as Chief Minister of the State," Modi said.
Modi recalled that after the 2010 State Assembly election, Nitish Kumar was elected leader of the NDA in a meeting of all NDA legislators and subsequently the then Governor was approached, seeking a chance from him for his appointment as Chief Minister.
Modi said that BJP president Rajnath Singh and other senior party leaders had assured Nitish Kumar that the PM candidate for the 2014 lok Sabha election would be announced only after consultations with all allies of the NDA but the Chief Minister went ahead with his plan of deserting the NDA.
Modi said that the lok Sabha election is still one year away but it is incomprehensible what really went wrong during the last four days, which prompted Nitish Kumar to leave the NDA itself.
Modi said that the BJP followed the ideal "coalition dharma" with sincerity during the last seven years of the NDA's rule in the State and resolved contentious issues amicably.
He said that the BJP played its own important role for implementation of various welfare schemes for weaker sections like SCs, EBCs and minority communities.
Nitish Kumar should also tell the people which BJP national leader interfered with the common minimum programme of his Government.