Noting that the recent spat between BJP and the JD(U) over Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is just a “friendly” fight, which is part of larger intra-NDA squabble to settle the issue of their prime ministerial candidate, the Congress on Tuesday said, the party is “just watching” the development, as the Opposition party “watched” when DMK was leaving the UPA.
When asked if the party does not consider Bihar chief minister Nitish kumar as a potential ally, AICC spokesperson Rashid Alvi shot back saying: “Has JD(U) come out of NDA? The party is still an integral part of the NDA and is running a government in the state with the support of BJP. Therefore, there is no question of considering him anything.”
However, justifying the silence of the party over the recent developments in the NDA, a senior Congress leader said, “The spat between the two NDA partners is just a friendly fight as part of a larger plot hatched by a section of the BJP to settle the issue of their prime ministerial candidate. After escalating the war or words for a while, you will see the two sides retreating and maintaining the status quo.”
Therefore, the leader maintained that it would prove to be “political blunder” if the party meddle with the “NDA muck” at this juncture. “We are just watching the developments in the NDA from a safe distance, as the BJP did when DMK was leaving the UPA,” he added.
Meanwhile, deflecting Mr Kumar’s attack on Mr Modi, another Congress leader Mohan Prakash targeted the Left and the Smajwadi Party for maintaining “stoic silence” on the issue of communalism. “Why those who have been in the habit of issuing certificates of secularism to others have turned mum when Nitish Kumar has started the debate on the issue of secularism,” he said, while recalling how the Left parties and the Samajwadi Party have always projected themselves as those in the vanguard of defending secularism.