JD-U, BJP head for clash over ‘secular PM’
Bihar’s ruling NDA allies JD(U) and BJP on Tuesday veered towards an uneasy situation of direct confrontation following chief minister and JD(U) stalwart Nitish Kumar’s public insistence that the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 General elections must have secular credentials.
With Mr Kumar’s inflexible stand on the issue of secularism virtually putting a major obstacle for Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s prime ministerial ambitions and the BJP’s emerging plans in that direction, most of Bihar’s BJP leaders felt badly affronted for the second time in five days. At the JD(U)’s state executive meeting at Mr Kumar’s residence on June 14, the CM had unambiguously said that a “person with a secular image” must lead the nation if the NDA came to power in the 2014 general elections. Kumar’s repetition of the same views in a newspaper interview finally prompted the BJP leaders to react with varying intensity and inclination.
Senior BJP minister Giriraj Singh, an ardent supporter for Narendra Modi’s claims for the prime minister’s post, mounted a veiled attack on Kumar, calling him “pseudo-secular”, and boycotted cabinet meeting on Tuesday evening apparently as a sign of protest.
“There are pseudo-secular leaders who talk of secularism to suit their political convenience. They become secular when they don’t need support of the BJP, but conveniently forget their secular credentials when they need the party’s help,” said animal husbandry minister Giriraj Singh without naming Kumar. “It is time secularism is defined properly,” he added. But while both Sin-gh and urban development minister Prem Kumar of the BJP described the Gujarat chief minister as “200 per cent secular”, deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi of the BJP, who enjoys personal rapport with Mr Kumar, displayed a mollifying stance ostensibly in support of Mr Kumar’s assertion.
“Nitish has only articulated his stand about the qualification of the NDA candidate for being projected as the prime ministerial candidate. He has not spoken against any individual,” said Sushil Modi.
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