Patna, June 18: Resolute on its strategy of deciding the chief ministerial face at an "opportune time" despite prodding by its political opponents, the BJP could replicate its Maharashtra-Haryana model in Bihar and settle the issue after the Assembly polls.

The BJP strategists appear unaffected by the comments of its opponents on the party's silence over the chief ministerial face. They have their reasons in place but would not disclose them.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad repeatedly criticised the BJP for not declaring its chief ministerial candidate. Lalu, during a recently held meeting of the RJD workers here, had gone on to say that the BJP did not have the guts to project a face ahead of the Assembly polls.

The party's state unit president, Mangal Pandey, said: "Not declaring the chief ministerial candidate is a part of our electoral strategy. Any decision on this front would be taken by the parliamentary board of our party at an opportune moment."

Pandey, however, refused to go into the details of the strategy stating that it could not be shared at this moment.

Some BJP insiders did provide an insight to the strategy, though. "One of the prime reasons is that projection of any one face would provide our political opponents a well-identified target. It would be like exposing our chief ministerial candidate to our opponents' attack. For now, they have no such liberty," said the insider.

"In contrast, our workers are being briefed to target Nitish and his recently found benefactor Lalu in a bid to keep the morale of the political opponents low," he added.

A source in the party maintained that the Bihar society being caste-ridden, it could be risky to project a particular leader as the chief ministerial candidate because it might alienate people from some other castes ahead of the Assembly polls. They may even gravitate towards the NDA opponents, he said.

He maintained that the party was not likely to replicate the Delhi experiment of projecting any particular face in the last moment as the chief ministerial face. "Bihar is a caste-ridden society and this could be a risky proposition in such a situation. The final decision would be taken by the central leadership keeping the ground realities in mind," he added.

Sharing more details, a senior BJP leader maintained that the party stood for capitalising on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity among people to the hilt. "The Prime Minister's name would work as a great cementing force for the grassroots workers, who otherwise might have allegiance to some particular state leader and projection of a particular face might create some sort of discontent in case the leader of their choice is not projected for the coveted post," he added.

Throwing more light on this issue, the leader, who requested anonymity, revealed that the party never had someone from its ranks as the chief minister of the state in the past and projecting a particular face in advance would not provide any leverage as far as projecting a name in comparison to Nitish or Lalu was concerned.

"For now, we would be fighting the battle jointly," he added.