Win some lose some: JD(U) leader and former MLA RR Kanaujiya joins BJP in Patna on Saturday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Aug. 3: Nitish Kumar’s growing “admirers” in the BJP have almost marred the party’s strident campaign against the JD(U) government after the chief minister dumped its ally NDA in June.

After actor-turned-Patna Sahib MP Shatrughan Sinha and party MLAs Amarnath Gami and Vijay Mishra described Nitish as “Prime Minister material”, two former BJP MLCs described the BJP as a party of “backstabbers” on Saturday.

Breaking into paeans for Nitish, former BJP MLCs Ranvir Nandan and Ramkishore Singh released a joint statement on Saturday: “The chief minister has set an example in sensitivity for the poor by paying Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the next of kin of the six people killed in police firing at Bagaha on June 24.”

Sources said Nandan was likely to join the JD(U) on August 12.

The BJP grapevine has it that Nitish, in the course of his long alliance with the party, had planted some moles in the BJP, who had been acting at his behest following the split in the alliance.

Turning the heat on Nitish, former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi said: “The JD(U) dispensation has its back to the walls with three of the four Independent MLAs, who pledged support to the government, boycotting the proceedings of the House.”

Asked about the growing rebellion in his own party, the former deputy chief minister said: “Ours is a big party which happens to have a few greedy ones. If four or five greedy people switch sides, it will hardly make a difference. The party will strongly carry on its campaign against Nitish Kumar’s betrayal of the 2010 mandate to the NDA.”

Countering Nitish’s allegation that the RJD and the BJP were working in tandem behind the scenes, the BJP leader told reporters: “You will soon hear that the JD(U) has been forging ties with the RJD to stop the so-called communal forces (read BJP) from coming to power.”

The former deputy chief minister claimed that the JD(U), with its 118 MLAs, actually had no majority in the 243-member Assembly.

While three Independent MLAs boycotted the House to exert pressure on the beleaguered chief minister to make them ministers, the Congress, with four MLAs, had given no formal letter of support in Nitish government’s favour to the governor.

Refusing to play any tricks to destabilise the JD(U), Modi said the party would crumble under its own contradictions.

“Many JD(U) MLAs are waiting for Nitish to expand his council of ministers. Nitish has been delaying the cabinet expansion for he knows that the exercise is fraught with peril for the government,” said the former deputy chief minister.