JOIN USBJP bides for time as JD-U crisis deepens
The BJP is adopting a wait and watch policy on the Bihar crisis after rebel Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi recommended dissolution of the state assembly, overlooking his party JD-U’s decision to replace him with Nitish Kumar.
Manjhi rushed to Delhi late on Saturday night and is expected to hold talks with BJP leaders in his bid to stage a political coup with the aide of NDA’s ruling party. The Dalit CM drove down to Bihar Bhavan from the airport.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with top party leaders at 7 RCR to assess the fallout of the intense infighting in the JD-U. A senior BJP leader said that the party is unlike to meddle in the embarrassing circumstances and would rather wait for the crisis to precipitate in the coming days. He argued that any intervention at this time would send a signal that the BJP was trying to dislodge the government which would not be politically wise.
Sushil Modi, a former deputy chief minister when BJP and JD-U shared power, flew down to the national capital and had a meeting with party president Amit Shah along with state incharge Bhupendra Yadav. “We are watching the situation by the minute,” Modi told reporters after the meeting. The state unit of the party is not averse to early polls as the ruling JD-U’s credibility is at an all-time low. But the numbers are still with them, he said.
Former Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has been encountering problems since he parted ways with the NDA when its leading party BJP decided to project Modi as its campaign chief. Kumar argued that his “secular politics” would be questioned if he supported Modi as PM candidate in 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
“This is Nitish Kumar's fifth mistake. Every decision he made has boomeranged. He knows he can’t come to power, so he is trying to come to power for at least six months,” said Bihar BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav.