No campaign by Modi in Bihar

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Coalition politics has forced the BJP to delete the name of leader and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi from the list of party leaders who would campaign during the Bihar Assembly polls. The name of Mr Varun Gandhi, BJP MP from Pilibhit, is also missing from the list submitted to the Election Commission.

Bihar chief minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar, who had objected to Mr Modi campaigning in Bihar, also told the BJP to ask its cadre not to raise the Ayodhya issue for political gain while campaigning. “It will send the wrong message to the party cadre in Bihar. Narendra bhai is one of the most sought-after BJP leaders during campaigning and the party is not sending him because Nitish Kumar doesn’t want him there,” said a senior party functionary.
Sources said a day after the Ayodhya title suits verdict was announced that the Bihar CM conveyed to the BJP top brass that it should avoid turning the Ayodhya issue into a poll plank. The BJP, it was learnt, told its alliance partner that in Bihar the NDA coalition is contesting on the development plank and for it the Ram temple issue is “an issue of faith”.
It could be mentioned here that Mr Kumar had objected to Mr Modi, considered a Hindutva icon, for the Bihar poll campaign. Mr Kumar had even returned the Gujarat government’s Kosi flood relief money. The issue had strained ties so much that there was speculation in party circles that both were on the verge of snapping ties. It was only after the senior leaderships of both parties intervened that the issue was sorted out.
Meanwhile, the list of 40 campaigners of the BJP includes the names of senior national leaders L.K. Advani, party chief Nitin Gadkari, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley. The list also includes the names of senior leaders Rajnath Singh, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Ananth Kumar. Senior party leaders from Bihar, including deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, Mr Ravishankar Prasad, Mr Shahnawaz Hussain and Mr C.P. Thakur also figure in the list.