Lalu Prasad greets Maharajganj victor Prabhunath Singh in Patna on Thursday. (PTI)

Patna, June 6: The BJP has virtually demanded that Nitish Kumar abandon his reservations about Narendra Modi, pushing the chief minister closer to the wall a day after the humiliating defeat in the Maharajganj bypoll.

BJP general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy aggressively advocated an end to the unwritten ban on Modi’s presence on the Bihar poll scene, saying: “The JD(U) needs Narendra Modi as much as the BJP does. The JD(U) leadership can take the opinion of its party workers on the issue.”

Rudy’s statement is unlikely to go down well with the Nitish camp, which remains opposed not only to any intervention by Modi in Bihar politics, but also to the prospect of his leading the NDA.

The message Rudy has sent to the JD(U) chief minister effectively means that Modi is a bigger vote-catcher in Bihar than Nitish and his presence on the campaign trail is key to the success of not only the BJP’s candidates, but also those of its partner.

Speaking to journalists, Rudy expressed “concern and worry” over the Maharajganj defeat. He stressed that the defeat of JD(U)’s P.K. Shahi was the defeat of the NDA. “How could the Opposition succeed despite the fact that the Nitish government runs an alliance government which is known as a performer?” he asked, while thanking Nitish for contradicting the statement of the vanquished JD(U) candidate that he had lost because of the lack of full co-operation by the BJP.

The eagerness to end the ban on Modi’s proscription from Bihar was palpable at the BJP office. “Narendra Modi is more popular than any Bihar leader,” BJP minister Giriraj Singh told The Telegraph.

The BJP is gearing up to hold the Hunkar Rally at Gandhi Maidan in the last week of October. Initially, there were reports that the Gujarat chief minister would not be invited out of fear that it would invoke the anger of Nitish. But after the Maharajganj outcome, the situation appears changed.

“There is no Section 144 against Narendra Modi in Bihar. Until now we felt he was not needed in Bihar. But now I will personally go to Gujarat to invite him to participate in the rally,” Giriraj asserted.

Clearly willing to defy Nitish, Giriraj said Modi would campaign in Bihar. “If the JD(U) candidates do not want him, it’s fine. He will campaign for BJP candidates,” he added.

Earlier in the day, Nitish arrived in Patna from Delhi and sought to play down the defeat. The focus was on contradicting the statement of JD(U) candidate Shahi. “Entire NDA worked for the victory of Shahi. He was a BJP-supported candidate. The alliance in Bihar exists,” Nitish declared.

He pointed out that the victor, RJD’s Prabhunath Singh, was with the JD(U) in the previous election. “The RJD and its chief may exhibit their happiness over the results for now but this election was based on local issues. The byelection result is nothing to be worried about,” he said.

However, BJP leaders disagreed with the chief minister. “In the 2010 Assembly polls, the NDA won in five of the six Assembly segments of Maharajganj. What happened in just 28 months that people thought of choosing the RJD over us?” asked Giriraj.

Nitish’s dislike for Modi surfaced in 2010 when the BJP was holding its national executive in Patna. An advertisement appearing in a local daily showing Modi and Nitish holding hands threw the Bihar chief minister into a rage. Nitish not only returned the Rs 5 crore given by Gujarat as aid for Kosi deluge victims but also cancelled the dinner hosted by him for BJP leaders.

Even in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the Bihar chief minister managed to get Modi excluded from the list of campaigners in the state. Whenever the two have met in public events, each has ignored the other’s existence.

After Maharajganj, an emboldened BJP is looking to extract its pound of flesh. Its new aggression has left some JD(U) leaders outraged.

“Rudy should stick to his own party. We do not need advice from him. The Bihar Modi (Sushil Kumar Modi) is capable of handling the BJP affairs here. There is no need to outsource Bihar politics,” said JD(U) spokesperson and MLC Neeraj Kumar.