Sushil Kumar Modi (left) with Arun Jaitley at the BJP’s national executive meeting in Goa on Saturday. (PTI)

Patna, June 8: The JD(U) is considering giving the Bihar alliance some time, with senior leaders saying the possible elevation of Narendra Modi as the BJP’s campaign head would not have an impact and that the party is ready to stick to its year-end deadline for its ally to name its prime ministerial candidate.

“The BJP can make any person it wants the poll panel chief, even Narendra Modi. It is their internal affair. However, our stand on the prime ministerial candidate remains unchanged,” said JD(U) national spokesperson Devesh Chandra Thakur, a confidant of chief minister Nitish Kumar. He said his party would wait till December for the BJP to announce its candidate for Prime Minister. The party also appears to have mellowed down on its “No Narendra Modi in Bihar” position. “As the BJP’s election panel chief, Narendra Modi is free to come to Bihar. But do not expect JD(U) ministers and leaders to be present there,” said another senior JD(U) leader.

Before the humiliating defeat in the Maharajganj bypoll, slogans in favour of Modi were frowned upon and posters of the Gujarat chief minister were strictly prohibited, even at BJP functions. There were talks of keeping Modi out even from the BJP’s Hunkar Rally, scheduled for the last week of October. But following the Maharajganj outcome, BJP leaders have openly started demanding Modi’s presence at the rally.

Though the JD(U) has been insisting that the large margin of defeat (over 1.37 lakh votes) in Maharajganj was primarily due to the consolidation of Rajput votes behind the RJD’s Prabhunath Singh, party workers agree their future strategy would have to be reworked.

The argument proffered for snapping of ties with its ally is that a large chunk of Muslims would shift to the JD(U), though they concede that the party could lose some upper caste votes to the BJP. These leaders say that Nitish’s strident anti-Modi stand does not appear to have worked in Maharajganj since Muslims voted for the RJD.

Most of all, JD(U) leaders are worried about a possible alliance between the RJD, LJP and the Congress for next Lok Sabha polls as it would be difficult for the JD(U) to outstrip them in terms of votes without an alliance with BJP. “In the 2004 polls, just a two per cent vote difference between NDA and an RJD-LJP-Congress alliance saw the NDA reduced to just 11 seats while the RJD-led group won 29,” said a senior JD(U) leader. The JD(U) also has to worry about the anti-incumbency mood manifesting across the state.