The fresh strains between Bihar’s JD(U) and the BJP after chief minister Nitish Kumar’s bitter protests against advertisements praising Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi got a last-minute balm on Sunday in senior BJP leader L.K. Advani’s speech at the end of the BJP rally.
While no other BJP leader uttered Mr Kumar’s name even once in their speeches as they heaped praise on Bihar’s JD(U)-BJP government, Mr Advani brought a surprise thaw to the growing aloofness between the two parties by saying it would have been great if Mr Kumar was present at the BJP’s “Bihar Swabhiman Rally” at Patna’s historic Gandhi Maidan and that the alliance would not be harmed by “small matters” like the advertisements.
Mr Advani’s public praise for Mr Kumar at the rally, attended by some of the party’s top leaders and chief ministers of BJP-ruled states, may sound like too simplistic a cure for an ailment rooted in the JD(U)’s aversion to Mr Modi’s communal image.
Sources, however, said it soothed the JD(U)’s strained nerves because Mr Advani continues to be respected by most in the BJP’s regional ally.
Coming as the last speaker at the rally amid a suspenseful political atmosphere, Mr Advani said: “If Nitish Kumar were present at this rally, it would have been great. He has been with us for a long time. Every coalition has several problems. These small problems over advertisements would cause no harm to our problems with Nitishjee.”
Mr Modi, sitting on the dais along with senior BJP leaders such as Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj, was all ears as Mr Advani tried to placate the JD(U).
But the BJP’s Bihar leaders started attacking Mr Kumar and even a few JD(U) leaders, including MPs Monazir Hassan and Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lallan, said it was time to snap ties with the national party. BJP MP and actor Shatrughan Sinha said all was not well between the two parties. Giriraj Singh, a BJP minister in Mr Kumar’s Cabinet, strongly defended Mr Narendra Modi and attacked Mr Kumar.
But Mr Kumar busied himself with the sixth phase of his tour of Bihar, meeting women SHG members and laying foundation stones for development projects in Nawada district.