The BJP in Bihar may or may not declare a face for the Assembly elections due in October, but the senior party leader and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu gave enough hint who will be the leader of the party. He gave a slogan: “Dilli mein (Narendra) Modi, Bihar mein (Sushil) Modi,” at a function to mark silver jubilee of Bihar BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi’s legislative career.
The slogan is seen as a sort of declaration by the party that it would be Sushil Modi who will be face of the party and chief ministerial candidate. The BJP will contest polls under alliance with two other parties regional lok Janashakti Party (lJP) and Rashtriya lok Samata Party (RlSP).
While Naidu aired this slogan praising Sushil Modi, other Union Ministers from Bihar including Radha Mohan Singh, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Ram Kripal Yadav besides Goa Governor Mridula Sinha showed their agreement. Naidu also read out the congratulatory message from party president Amit Shah. The BJP leaders agreed that the role of Sushil Modi would be most important and crucial in taking Bihar ahead post Assembly election.
When Naidu declared, “The people of the country and of Bihar have decided that the Modi duo will take India and Bihar to the peak of development and prosperity.” Union Minister Ram Kripal Yadav added, “NDA government will be formed in Bihar under Sushil Modi,” and Bihar BJP president Mangal Pandey said, “Sushil Modi will play a major role in making of Bihar.”
Senior leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said the ten crore people of Bihar have pinned hope on Sushil Modi while deputy Chairman of Bihar legislative Council Awadhesh Narayan Singh said, “The people want to see Sushil Modi as Chief Minister.” leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly Nand Kishore Yadav said, “I will not praise him because this shortens the age. I wish to work with him for a longer period.”
Even as the senior BJP leaders were praising Sushil Modi and giving strong indications that he would lead the Assembly election, lJP president and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan at a programme of his party here was saying that the Assembly election would be fought under the leadership of Narendra Modi.
Even in the BJP there are many leaders who are not very comfortable with the leadership of Sushil Modi and desired a change of leadership. Though none of them was ready to come on the record, their bitterness towards Sushil Modi is known to all. The Bihar BJP is divided between pro-Modi and anti-Modi groups.
Replying to the compliments Sushil Modi, who is seen as a leader with his foots firmly on the ground, said he would continue working for the interest of Bihar till his last. “How long I will continue in active politics I can’t say but there is a perception that one should take sanyas after 75,” he said. Giving credit to the RSS for his active political career he said it was because of his association with the organisation that he reached to this place.
He said he learnt lessons in politics from Govindacharya, Karpoori Thakur, Ram lakhan Singh Yadav and Jagannath Mishra. Incidentally, Thakur, Yadav and Mishra had never been in BJP. He said making of Rabri Devi as Chief Minister was the most shocking event of his life.