Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s announcement that the JD(U)’s alliance plans could be decided after October on Tuesday heightened the BJP’s anxieties about a Congress-JD(U) alliance being formed and spurred the saffron party to mount a renewed attack on Kumar on the issue of special state status.
Although Mr Kumar did not specify if the JD(U) would contest the 2014 Lok Sabha polls alone or in alliance with any party, speculations were rife in Patna’s political circles, amid indications of the Centre preparing to grant Bihar special state status as per Mr Kumar’s demands, that the JD(U) may ally with the Congress. The BJP, which has been using the JD(U)’s growing proximity with the Congress and the latest developments on the issue of special state status as a double-edged sword to attack the JD(U), apparently construed Kumar’s words as signs of a possible Congress-JD(U) alliance.
“Any decision on whether to go it alone or reach electoral understanding with a federal front or third front for the 2014 polls will be taken only after October,” said Kumar to journalists on Monday. He said the JD(U) would be busy with its meetings in the districts and LS constituencies till October. Senior BJP leader and former deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, who has lately been pointing out the “real truth” behind the JD(U)’s claims about benefits of the special state status, hit out at Kumar on the contentious issue of stalled investments in Bihar due to unavailability of industrial land.
“Even if the Centre grants Bihar the special state status, and even if it leads to a renewed investor interest in Bihar, where will the state government find land to allot to the industries? Several industrial projects have already been stalled in Bihar due to the land crunch and complications over compensation to landowners,” said Mr Modi to journalists.
Accusing Mr Kumar of “showing an unrealistic dream” to Bihar’s people over a rapid industrial and economic growth due to special state status, Mr Modi dared Mr Kumar to answer the question over land. “If Bihar had land available for industries, many investors would have already set up plants even without any special state status,” he said.