The Modi-versus-Nitish dichotomy gripping Bihar politics flared up once again and left the state’s two major Opposition parties — BJP and RJD — flustered on Wednesday. While the RJD suspended a senior MLC for openly praising Narendra Modi, the BJP contemplated action against an MLA for publicly lauding Nitish Kumar.
The RJD, already reeling from the judicial setback its chief Lalu Prasad Yadav received in connection with a fodder scam case he faces, found statements by its senior leader and MLC Nawal Kishore Yadav too embarrassing. Announcing his suspension from the RJD for six years, party state president Ramchandra Purve on Wednesday said the MLC’s statements were “totally different from the party’s stand” and the RJD chief had ordered the MLC’s suspension.
Describing Mr Modi as a better leader than PM Manmohan Singh and “the most popular leader in the country today,” Nawal Kishore Yadav had told reporters in Biharsharif in Nalanda on Monday night that the Gujarat CM and BJP icon had the “voice to raise issues of the common man”.
“Modi’s style of functioning and his body language have made him the heartthrob of millions of people, particularly the youth,” said the MLC, also a national council member of the RJD. He is the first RJD leader who publicly praised Mr Modi despite the strong anti-Modi, anti-BJP opinions and political strategies adopted for long by the regional party.
The BJP was shocked when its MLA, Rana Gangeshwar Singh from Mohiuddinnagar constituency, Wednesday said Mr Kumar would prove a better PM than Mr Modi.
His statements came after he met the Bihar CM and JD(U) stalwart at a state government programme in Patna.
“He (Kumar) is a model politician and the pride of Bihar... Nitish Kumar will be a better PM than Narendra Modi any day,” said Mr Singh, becoming the second BJP legislator after Hayaghat MLA Amarnath Gami to openly praise Mr Kumar. Mr Gami was suspended from the BJP for his remarks. Mr Singh said he was not afraid of any disciplinary action because “my soul is with Nitish Kumar”.