Bihar BJP steps up attack on Nitish

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JD(U) state president Vashist Narayan Singh (left) and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar at the party office in Patna

Smouldering hostilities between Bihar’s ruling allies JD(U) and BJP came out into the open faster and harder on Wednesday, pushing them closer to the brink of a split, as their war of words grew shriller over the JD(U)’s insistence on a secular prime ministerial candidate of the NDA.
Apparently buoyed by the strong RSS support for Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s prime ministerial candidature, Bihar’s BJP leaders heightened their criticism of chief minister and JD(U) stalwart Nitish Kumar for suggesting that Mr Modi was not secular and unsuitable for the nation’s top job. Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi of the BJP, who had echoed Mr Kumar’s views on Tuesday, declined to speak to the media even as leaders of both the allies continued freely articulating their unyielding positions on the issue throughout Wednesday.
Daring Mr Kumar to sack him from the state Cabinet for supporting the Gujarat BJP strongman, Bihar animal husbandry minister and senior BJP leader Giriraj Singh said Mr Kumar’s idea of secularism was an insult to Gujaratis. Mr Singh, who had boycotted the Cabinet meeting chaired by Mr Kumar on Tuesday in protest, did not attend an emergency meeting of BJP leaders convened at Mr Sushil Modi’s residence in the evening to discuss the emerging situation. With many BJP leaders staying away, this meeting reportedly remained inconclusive.
“There is nobody communal in the BJP. Is the entire population of Gujarat communal because they have been electing Narendra Modi poll after poll? To say that Modi is communal is an insult to the crores of people living in Gujarat. Modi is 200 per cent secular,” said Mr Singh. Most BJP leaders supported Mr Singh’s views and sentiments.
Bihar BJP president C.P. Thakur said, “Is there an academic degree anywhere to certify that a leader is secular? Is there a BA or an MA in secularism? We (BJP) do not need a certificate of secularism from anybody”.
JD(U) leaders asked the BJP to see the political merits in Mr Kumar’s suggestion. “Where was the BJP before we (JD-U) joined the NDA? It was left with only the Shiv Sena as its ally then. The BJP gave up controversial issues only after we joined the NDA. We still stand by our basic principles and do not care if they now cause a crisis in the coalition,” said Bhim Singh, senior JD(U) leader and minister.