Allies shouldn’t dictate terms to BJP
Either now or later, the Bharatiya Janata Party will have to take a call on its prime ministerial candidate. Should it heed the warning issued by its ally, the Janata Dal (United) that the latter would walk out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance if someone like Mr Narendra Modi were to be named, or should it stick to its belief that the Chief Minister of Gujarat is the most popular choice of its party cadre for governing the countryIJ It appears to be a sticky issue, and it is. The way forward for the BJP is to concentrate on its core interests first. After all, if the BJP cannot secure adequate numbers in the coming lok Sabha election, neither Mr Nitish Kumar nor his JD(U) can catapult the NDA to power. Being the largest constituent of the NDA, the BJP has to first emerge strong, and that is where the party’s top brass must focus its attention. The question, therefore, is: Can the BJP become strong by sidelining Mr Modi and appeasing Mr Nitish KumarIJ There is no doubt in the minds of the rank and file of the party that the BJP's best bet in the coming election is the Chief Minister of Gujarat. That the workers want him as the prime ministerial candidate is evident by the spontaneous, overwhelming response which he has garnered in meeting after meeting — from Delhi to Gujarat to West Bengal and elsewhere. They believe that Mr Modi will help rejuvenate the party cadre across the country and add significantly to the party's tally in the lok Sabha election. If such is the mood of the workers, then the BJP will find it difficult to ignore the sentiments. Moreover, various surveys by the media have been projecting Mr Modi as the strongest and the most preferred candidate in the BJP. Yet, if the BJP is still shy of officially projecting him as the party's candidate, it is because the JD(U) has thrown a spanner in the works. The BJP, understandably, does not want Mr Nitish Kumar to walk out months before the crucial general election which is expected to throw out the inefficient Congress-led UPA Government. Its partnership with the JD(U) is long and has worked extremely well in Bihar, where the two parties are in power and have together done a commendable job. But, now that Mr Nitish Kumar has announced (without taking names) at his party's National Council meeting in Delhi on Sunday that someone like Mr Modi will not be acceptable to him, it is clear that he wants to determine the BJP's choice. It's not a directive that any party should willingly accept — and certainly not the country's main Opposition and the largest constituent of the NDA.
If Mr Nitish Kumar is indeed serious about removing the UPA from power — and he has said on many occasions that he is — then he must stop targeting leaders of his own ally and weakening the NDA. He must realise that the Congress is exploiting the situation to its advantage. In the process, the Congress is also attempting to project to the people that the NDA is not only falling apart just before the election but also that it is seeking to project a ‘communal' Mr Modi as the country's future Prime Minister. The Chief Minister of Bihar must not play into the Congress's hands and must remember that the Congress along with its friends, Mr lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal and Mr Ram Vilas Paswan's lok Janshakti Party, are its principal opponents in Bihar.