Nitish relents: New ads include Modi
Bihar chief minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar finally succumbed to BJP anger. After the BJP’s central leadership, including Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley, had an “informal” meeting with Mr Kumar on Sunday, Bihar government advertisements started carrying deputy chief minister and BJP leader Sushil Modi’s photograph.
The saffron party was up in arms over these advertisements as they were projecting only Mr Kumar as “Vikas Purush” and had completely left out Mr Modi. The issue was first reported in this newspaper on Sunday.
Also, both the JD(U) and the BJP have agreed to remain silent on the issue of whether Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi would campaign in the state during the coming Assembly elections or not. The issue had severely strained the ties between the NDA allies recently.
Though both the parties claimed that discussions between the leaders of the NDA coalition on Sunday in Patna were held in a cordial atmosphere and everything was fine between the two coalition partners, sources said the issues of Gujarat chief minister surfaced during the meeting.
“It was decided that both parties will not rake up the issue. Neither the BJP nor the JD(U) would make any further comment on whether Mr Modi would campaign in Bihar or not,” said a senior BJP functionary.
The senior functionary further said that on the ad issue Mr Kumar was told by the BJP leadership that when both the JD(U) and BJP are running the government in the state, both parties should be given importance when it comes to showcasing government’s achievements.
The rift between the JD(U) and BJP had widened recently after Mr Nitish Kumar returned the Kosi relief fund of the Gujarat government following the latter’s claim that it had liberally donated aid to Bihar during the 2008 Kosi floods.
Mr Kumar had also strongly objected to advertisements carried by local dailies in Bihar during the BJP’s national executive, showing him with Mr Modi. The issue had severely strained ties between the BJP and JD(U) and was resolved only after central leadership of both parties intervened.
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Summons to BJP official
AGE CORRESPONDENT
new delhi
July 12: After taking note of an anonymous letter and the subsequent findings of the income-tax department in connection with the alleged complicity of Shyam Sunder Jaju, the in-charge of BJP national headquarters here, in a fraud case to the tune of crores of rupees, the Patiala House Court, ACMM Ajay Pandey issued summons to him for July 24.
The court said sufficient material has been brought by the I-T department suggesting that Jaju has been allegedly involved in the financial irregularities.
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