The BJP on Wednesday warned that it would lodge an FIR against any non-NDA party if it uses the photographs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Bihar assembly elections, an assertion seen as a snub to the LJP which has exited from the ruling coalition in Bihar and decided to go solo in the polls.
Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal, the state BJP president, said that if any party or individual is found to be using pictures of the Prime Minister on posters or any publicity material in the run-up to the elections, the BJP will lodge an FIR.
Addressing a press conference, Jaiswal said, "Let me make it very clear that our party has 40-star campaigners headed by the Prime Minister in this election and only NDA allies can use the PM's photo. If any non-NDA party uses his pictures, we will lodge an FIR."
The controversy over the use of PM's images on posters arose after LJP president Chirag Paswan left the NDA in Bihar, citing "ideological differences" with JD(U) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Paswan, son of Union minister Ramvilas Paswan, has asserted that his party would continue to be part of the NDA at the centre and showered praise on the Prime Minister.
On Tuesday, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi had said at the joint press conference of the NDA in which Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was present that his party would complain to the Election Commission if anybody used Modi's pictures in the state polls unauthorisedly.
However, the LJP has hit back at the BJP, saying that Narendra Modi is the Prime Minister of the entire country and not of any specific party.
At the press meet, the saffron party declared that it is giving 11 seats out of its quota of 121 seats to its associate partner Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP).
During the occasion in which besides Sushil Modi and Jaiswal, BJP's election in-charge and former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was also present, the saffron party leaders iterated that Kumar is the leader of the NDA coalition in Bihar and they would fight the polls under his leadership.
VIP of Bollywood set designer Mukesh Sahni, who shared dais with the senior BJP leaders, had quit Grand Alliance last week.
Taking a swipe at the RJD, Sushil Modi said: "JMM, RLSP and VIP are leaving the RJD one by one while many are joining us."
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