Patna:
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced today that his partnership with the BJP is a thing of the past. After a meeting with Bihar Governor DY Patil, he said he will take a vote of confidence on Wednesday to prove he still has a majority.
For 17 years, Mr Kumar's party, the Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) has partnered with the BJP in a national alliance; for eight years, they have governed Bihar.
In a press conference that lasted nearly 25 minutes, neither Mr Kumar nor JD(U) President Sharad Yadav named BJP leader Narendra Modi. But they referred to the BJP's decision to promote him to campaign chief as a "new direction" they cannot move in.
"We are not responsible. We were forced to take this decision... we cannot compromise our basic principles," said Mr Kumar.
Critics of Mr Modi say he is bogged down by the image of a divisive leader, tainted by the riots in Gujarat in 2002 in which hundreds of Muslims were killed.
Mr Kumar at his press conference chided BJP ministers for refusing to attend an emergency cabinet session he called this morning. "Even if we are splitting, I thought let us talk about how to do this amicably," he said.
Mr Kumar then castigated the ministers for stating in recent interviews that till the crisis was resolved, they would not report to work. "To not resign and yet not work...that is a strange situation," he said.