The ignorance by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the request by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with folded hands for according status of Central university to Patna University here on weekend is seen as a “humiliation” of Nitish and it has caused resentment in his party JD(U). Barely three months back Nitish after severing ties with the Mahagathbandhan had joined hands with the BJP and became ally of the NDA.
This was Nitish’s second meeting with Modi after the alliance. Earlier the PM came to see the flood situation and had announced Rs 500 crore Central assistance. That too was seen as an insult to over a million flood victims even as Bihar had demanded help of several thousand crores. The Centre is yet to take cognisance of that demand.
The refusal to accept the old demand for Central status to Patna University did not go down well with the leaders of the JD(U) who privately said that the Bihar Government was quite hopeful of this status but the way the PM ignored it was a big setback. JD(U) general secretary Shyam Rajak said, “Biharis are feeling disappointed with PM’s attitude. CM Nitish had raised this demand with great hopes at the centenary celebrations of the University and there could not have been a better occasion than this to announce central status by the PM.”
But the harshest statement on a different count came from senior party leader and national spokesperson Pavan Varma who was critical of the Centre as well as the Election Commission for not announcing poll schedule of Gujarat while it announced the Himachal Pradesh poll schedule.
Varma’s tweet asking ECI to give “credible answers” as to why it did not announce the Gujarat election schedule saying “The EC must not only be impartial but should also seem to be so” created a flutter in the party and sent out a message to others that everything was not going smoothly in the JD(U) over the alliance with the BJP.
A few hours after this tweet, party’s secretary general and chief spokesperson KC Tyagi came out with a brief statement. It reads, “The party does not approve the views expressed by Pawan Varma, the party leader. We have full faith in the impartial functioning of the Election Commission, the constitutional body. Varma was not authorised to make such statement and the expressed views are of his personal capacity and it has nothing to do with party’s official line.”
Despite a snub from the PM on Saturday, Nitish continued to publicly praise PM Modi on Sunday. Releasing a book on the PM, he lauded Modi for taking courageous decisions and said, “Modi is the PM with guts to lead from the front. Once cannot succeed unless showing necessary courage while taking policy decisions.” But a senior JD(U) functionary asked, “Why the PM did not show courage to grant central status to country’s seventh oldest UniversityIJ”
RJD supremo lalu Prasad vented his anger saying Nitish has lost his identity by aligning with the BJP. He alleged that Nitish aligned with the saffron party only to escape action in the Srijan scam. “He is CM at the mercy of Modi and Amit Shah and so he is praising the PM in spite of his humiliation.
lalu said, “Nitish will sooner or later be thrown out of the NDA. If he approaches me for any help, I will not forgive even in saat janam (seven births). He should now carry a drum and recite Modi’s name to escape action for his involvement in scandal.”