Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday gave more blues to his saffron ally by inducting senior BJP leader and former MLC Sanjay Jha into the JD(U) in a political move seen by many BJP leaders as an act of poaching within the ruling alliance.
Mr Jha’s unexpected defection to the JD(U) raised anxieties in the BJP as it indicated possibilities of a new political equation emerging in Bihar’s Mithilanchal belt in the event of the alliance between the two ruling parties breaking down. Mr Jha, who has had close relations with Mr Kumar for several years, is expected to contest the Lok Sabha polls in 2014 as a JD(U) candidate from Darbhanga, currently represented by the BJP’s Kirti Azad.
A smiling Mr Kumar, who has visited Mr Jha’s village thrice in a year’s time, himself presided over the BJP leader’s induction into the JD(U) at a ceremony at the CM’s official residence attended by several senior JD(U) leaders including state president Vashistha Narayan Singh. JD(U) leaders celebrated the political move by their stalwart, Mr Kumar, and said it would not harm the coalition. Agriculture minister Narendra Singh of the JD(U) said Mr Jha would now “strengthen the coalition and act as a bridge”. Mr Jha, who has been close to BJP leaders such as deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and Arun Jaitley, said: “I have no regrets with the BJP. I had been working with the CM for quite some time. I took this decision after consultation with several BJP leaders, including Arun Jaitley, Sushil Modi and Dharmendra Pradhan.”
Mr Jha guided Mr Kumar’s election strategy in both rounds of Bihar’s Assembly polls in 2005 and then reportedly influenced his policies on various issues, especially on caste politics. He also reportedly introduced Mr Kumar to the Internet and acted as a ghost-writer of the CM’s blogs.
BJP state secretary Mrityunjay Jha accused the JD(U) of violating coalition dharma. “It was the BJP that taught him (Jha) the A-B-C-D of politics and brought him up from being a minister’s PA to becoming an MLC. Jha should not have taken this sheer opportunistic step,” he said.