BJP president Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Saturday. Picture by Prem Singh

New Delhi, April 13: The BJP opted not to join issue with the Janata Dal (United) on the subject of Narendra Modi, at least for now.

None of its spokespersons reacted to JD(U) general secretary K.C. Tyagi’s castigation of the Gujarat CM for not “fulfilling his duty” during the 2002 communal violence. “We are trying to assess if it is posturing or the reiteration of a stated position,” a leader said.

BJP president Rajnath Singh was still optimistic that Nitish Kumar would not abandon his party. Rajnath told The Telegraph that he would meet the Bihar chief minister “shortly”, although as of now no meeting has been set up.

Nitish is slated to leave for Patna tomorrow evening. “I would like to meet him and sort out the issues, if any. The JD(U) is one of our oldest allies, we have had the best of relations in good and bad times. So there is no need to break off. I am sure we will stick together,” Rajnath told The Telegraph.

A source close to Rajnath maintained he had been “in touch” with Nitish on phone but refused to say if the matter of projecting Modi as the PM candidate in 2014 was touched upon in their conversations.

BJP sources claimed that on their part they were “clear” they would “do nothing” to precipitate a break-up. “That is why we have not declared our PM face so far, that can happen closer to the (Lok Sabha) election. We realise if we lose the JD(U) at this stage, not only will the loss impact our tally in Bihar, it could have a chain effect on our endeavour to get other potential allies in the NDA, because Nitish is a political heavyweight carrying his own cachet and not some chhota motta (trifling) leader,” a source said.

Simultaneously, the BJP, sources maintained, was equally “certain” that it would not jettison Modi “just because Nitish finds him inconvenient”. “Our rank-and-file has pronounced its verdict. Modi is our tallest leader, our only vote-catcher after Atalji. We cannot risk marginalising him and losing our workers who are terribly surcharged at the moment,” a source said.

The BJP’s assessment was that the impending Maharajganj Lok Sabha bypoll (the Election Commission has not yet notified the schedule) could be a barometer to gauge the fate of its relations with the JD(U).

A predominantly upper caste constituency, the BJP’s support becomes critical to Nitish. A source said if its cadres turned “cold” towards Nitish, the RJD — that has fielded a former JD(U) Rajput leader, Prabhunath Singh — had a chance of retaining Maharajganj. “In that case, Nitish will realise the BJP’s value and hopefully stop acting funny. If he wrests the seat also, the BJP’s social and political worth will be reinforced again,” a source claimed.

Sources expected the BJP to come out with a more “considered” response to the JD(U)’s deliberations on Sunday when the session concluded.