New Delhi:
BJP leaders from Bihar met party president Rajnath Singh in Delhi today to discuss the challenge of working with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Janata Dal (United). For 17 years, the parties have been allies, and their partnership brought them to power in Bihar in 2004.
According to party sources, Bihar's BJP leaders were asked not to respond to accusations made by the JD-U.
"It was decided that only the leaders authorised by party will comment if needed. We have the faith of the people of Bihar and we don't want to be the one to break the alliance," a BJP leader said on condition of anonymity.
What's driving them apart is Mr Kumar's insistence that Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat, cannot be the BJP's presumptive prime minister. Mr Kumar and his JD(U) say that Mr Modi lacks "secular credentials" because he was in office when hundreds of Muslims were killed in communal violence in his state in 2002.
Sources within the BJP say that Mr Modi is not entirely thrilled with the new campaign for him in Bihar, mainly because colleagues there who were cold to him for years, are now using him to take on Mr Kumar.
Sources in the BJP cite the example of Dr CP Thakur, whose term as president of the BJP in Bihar expired two months ago. Of late, Dr Thakur has announced that Mr Modi is the favourite of party workers. But in June 2010, they say, he did not speak against Mr Kumar who cancelled a dinner in 2010 for senior BJP leaders in anger over an ad released by the BJP that showed him with the Gujarat chief minister.
Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who belongs to the BJP and tacitly supported Mr Kumar when he stopped Mr Modi from campaigning in his state in the state elections of 2010, has also taken on his boss this week for questioning Mr Modi's secular credentials.