Patna, Dec. 20: The Gujarat Assembly elections verdict ensuring third term to its chief minister Narendra Modi would not have any impact on the JD(U)-BJP alliance in Bihar in near future.
Though chief minister Nitish Kumar is believed to be locked in an undeclared competition with his Gujarat counterpart for the top national prize at least for over two years, the results in Modi’s favour — almost similar to his 2007 tally— has apparently given a message of “status quo” in the BJP-JD(U) alliance.
The JD(U)’s national general secretary, Shivanand Tiwary summed it up: “It is a verdict for Gujarat. The JD(U) is an ally of Bihar BJP, and it is intact. The JD(U), however, believes that the leader of the country should be acceptable to all sections and should have vision for inclusive development on which the party is still firm.”
There was a perception in the run-up to the Assembly polls in Gujarat that in case Modi took his tally beyond 117 seats that he had won in 2007, he might be armed to push his candidature for the Prime Minister’s post in 2014. Incidentally, the Gujarat CM despite securing a “hat-trick” and obtaining an impressive win, has failed to bring about a “fundamental” change in his clout, particularly at the national-level.
“There is hardly a difference in his status between what he was prior to the elections and after the elections in Gujarat. He (Modi) has simply retained his position in his state and his party has lost the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh to the Congress. It is simple testimony to the fact that the Gujarat chief minister’s charisma is confined to Gujarat only and his party is virtually a loser in the overall battle,” said a senior JD(U) ideologue.
Nitish stayed busy with his scheduled official meetings throughout the day today. Barring a few, his JD(U) cadres by and large stayed indifferent to what had happened in Gujarat.
Food and consumer protection minister Shyam Rajak was an exception. He lost his cool when asked about the possibility of Modi being projected as the prime ministerial candidate of the NDA.
The BJP’s second line cadres, on the other hand, took out victory celebrations. But senior leaders confined their praise and congratulations to Modi and the voters of Gujarat bringing the BJP back to power.
“Modi’s victory has proved that the voters never ignore the honest, dedicated and development-oriented leadership. I congratulate the BJP for winning in Gujarat for the five consecutive terms and Modi for the hat-trick,” deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi said.
About a couple of months ago, Nitish had stated that he would like the BJP to declare a “secular face” as its prime ministerial candidate ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. “Nitish still stands on what he had stated. There is no reason to conjecture, as of now, that the BJP will change its commitment with the JD(U), its strongest ally,” a senior BJP leader confided to The Telegraph.
The JD(U) leader and close confidante to Nitish, Sanjay Jha, said: “The NDA under Nitish’s stewardship had 82 per cent strike rate by winning 206 seats out of 243 in 2010 polls. The NDA had earned that stupendous figure in the state because of all inclusive vision of Nitish.”
Jha, in a way, made it clear that the JD(U) would not accept Narendra Modi as a leader of “inclusive vision” and as such would never accept him as PM’s nominee.
Top sources in the NDA also revealed that it was still not Nitish versus Modi, rather it was Modi versus his own leadership.
Conversation with the senior BJP leaders revealed that it would still be difficult for Modi to convince the party’s senior leaders L.K. Advani, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Murli Manohar and a large section of the RSS that he would get the support of several allies that would be effectively required to form the government at the national-level.
Amid all these serious discussions, the JD(U) had its share of smile in Modi’s Gujarat as a party candidate was leading in a constituency at the time of filing this report.
