After taking contrasting positions on supporting the next presidential candidate and the controversy created by Bihar chief minister’s comments on the NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate, which led to a major rift in the NDA, both the BJP and JD(U) seem to have taken a damage control exercise.
On Saturday, JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav issued gag orders to party leaders in an effort to put a stop to the war of words between the two allies. He insisted there is no rift within the NDA.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar also asked JD(U) leaders and spokesmen to refrain from issuing statements on contentious issues without prior permission from the leadership.
Senior JD(U) leader and party spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari’s remark on the UPA’s handling of the economy and criticism of alliance partner had created an unease in the BJP. Mr Tiwari had also asked the BJP to reconsider its decision of backing P.A. Sangma for the presidential post.
Sources disclosed both Mr Yadav and Mr Kumar had disapproved Mr Tiwari’s statements. Sources said though the BJP central leadership refrained from reacting to Mr Kumar’s recent statements on the BJP-led NDA’s PM candidate or JD(U) backing UPA presidential nominee, senior BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj were in touch with both Mr Yadav and Mr Kumar.
The BJP leaders, it is learnt, told the JD(U) top brass that it should ask its leaders to refrain from commenting against the BJP which is unnecessarily creating problems for both the allies. The Bihar CM had recently said that the NDA PM candidate should have “secular credentials”, apparently attacking his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi, who is considered as a “Hindutva icon”.
It could be recalled that after Mr Kumar attacked Mr Modi, even the RSS jumped in to back Mr Modi. In New Delhi, the JD(U) chief rubbished reports of rift within NDA. “The support of the JD(U) to the UPA presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee is no indication of any rift in the NDA. NDA is united and will remain so,” Mr Yadav said. He made it clear that the JD(U)’s support to Mr Mukherjee do not mean a dilution of the party’s stand against the Congress.