After 17 years together, the BJP and JD(U) are headed for a bitter divorce that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar could announce on Sunday.
In the run up to the formal parting of ways, the BJP on Friday accused the JD(U) of trying to poach its MlAs, while Nitish Kumar told newspersons that the JD(U)-BJP alliance was passing through a difficult phase and the JD(U) has to take a position in such a situation.
Apparently anguished over the elevation of Narendra Modi in the BJP, Nitish, who arrived in Patna after completing his two-day “Sewa Yatra” in Katihar, recited a couplet to drive home his point: “Dua detein hain jeene ki, aur dawa detein hain marne ki. (They give me blessings for a long life, but in reality they try to poison me).”
“Everybody is suggesting that I should not break such an old alliance, but the situation is very difficult right now,” he added.
On its part, the BJP reiterated that a united NDA was a must in order to defeat the Congress.
“Only a united Opposition can defeat the Congress. It’s a historical fact that whenever the Opposition got united, the Congress was defeated. Therefore, the NDA’s unity is a necessity. We must do everything to keep the NDA united,” leader of Opposition in lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj wrote on Twitter.
BJP chief Rajnath Singh said: “We will never want to break the BJP-JD(U) alliance. Our alliance with the JD(U) is more than
17-years-old.”
Meanwhile, Nitish held a meeting of senior leaders like his close confidant and party MP, RCP Sinha, State party president Vashishtha Narayan Singh, party MP Ali Anwar, Ministers Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Shyam Rajak and other senior leaders.
JD(U) president Sharad Yadav will arrive in Patna on Saturday. The JD(U) will hold a two-day meeting of senior party leaders including all Ministers and MlAs from Saturday to take a final call on the party’s alliance with the BJP and is expected to make an announcement about leaving the NDA after that.
In Delhi, Yadav denied having given any ultimatum to the BJP on the choice of its Prime Ministerial candidate.
“It is wrong to say that we have given the BJP any ultimatum. That report is wrong. However, we are definitely concerned over the sequence of events in the BJP in the last few days,” Yadav said.
Meanwhile, right after the BJP Core Committee meeting at the residence of Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi in Patna on Friday, State BJP president Mangal Pandey told newspersons that an Independent MlA, Dilip Verma has already made the startling revelation that he was assured a Ministerial post if he supported the Nitish Kumar Government.
Pandey said he was aware that JD(U) Ministers and MlAs were in touch with BJP MlAs to cause a split in his party.
The BJP has 91 MlAs in the State Assembly against the JD(U)'s strength of 118 members.
He said that the JD(U)'s attempts to cause a split in the BJP are not only against democratic values, but are also an act of treachery.
The JD(U) requires the support of 122 MlAs in the 243-member State Assembly for survival of the Government, and it is understood that the party has already got the support of five out of six Independent MlAs.
He said that the BJP has asked all its Ministers to remain in Patna till June 17 in view of the present political situation in the State.
Pandey said the JD(U) should also clarify why it was insisting on leaving the NDA when it had described the appointment of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the BJP Campaign Committee chief as an internal matter of the party.
“Till June 9, the JD(U) did not even find it fit to make any comment on the anointment of Narendra Modi as the BJP campaign committee chief, but it suddenly changed its position and is now threatening to quit the NDA,” the BJP leader remarked.
Before attending the Core Committee meeting, senior BJP leader and State Youth, Art and Culture Minister Sukdha Pandey said it was up to the morality of Nitish Kumar whether he resigns from the post of Chief Minister if his party quits the NDA.
She said that the people of the State have given their mandate to the NDA and it would be injustice to them if the JD(U) quits the alliance midway.
Most of the BJP Ministers in the Government did not attend their offices on Friday also.
Road Construction Minister and State NDA Convener Nand Kishore Yadav said that he did not find it fit to go to the office in the present political situation.
BJP Ministers stopped going to their offices from Thursday itself on the plea that they do not find the atmosphere conducive for official work, and they will not resume their duties unless ambiguity on the future of the alliance is cleared.