Former BJP MP Shyam Bihari Mishra performs the rituals at the yagna on Nishad’s lawns in New Delhi on Friday. Picture by Prem Singh

New Delhi/Patna, March 8: His boss is still Nitish Kumar, but habitual party-hopper Jainarain Prasad Nishad hosted in absentia a yagna to get Narendra Modi the country’s top political prize.

The 83-year-old Janata Dal (United) MP from Muzaffarpur, known for his differences with the Bihar chief minister, was himself not present at the ceremony to invoke divine blessings for Modi’s prime ministerial bid, but lent his official residence in Lutyens’s Delhi to a former BJP parliamentarian for the two-day ritual.

The yagna was performed by former BJP MP from Kanpur Dehat in Uttar Pradesh, Shyam Bihari Mishra, on the sprawling lawns of Nishad’s bungalow on 5 Balwant Rai Mehta Lane. Mishra and his wife sat through the ritual that was performed by some 51 sadhus of a Hindu outfit, International Vedant Organisation.

“Yes, a yagna is being performed. A sadhu from Mumbai had requested me to lend my residence for the puja and I allowed it,” Nishad told The Telegraph over phone from Muzaffarpur, his Lok Sabha constituency. He said he would be reaching Delhi tomorrow — the two-day yagna ended today amid chants of Narendra Modi lana hai, desh bachana hai.

“The Vedic chants at the yagna would generate such a wave that the people of India, including Nitish Kumar, would rally behind Modi,” Mishra said.

Nishad, who prefers the prefix Captain (retired) to be added to his name in deference to his army background, refrained from joining the “Modi-for-PM” chorus, stating it was for the BJP to decide. At the same time, he did not share Nitish’s deep aversion for the Gujarat chief minister.

“Nitish Kumar’s dislike for Modi is his personal opinion. The party has never held a meeting on this issue or passed any resolution in this regard. One man cannot decide on behalf of the party,” the MP said.

Nishad, possibly aware that the decision to allow a yagna for Modi at his residence wouldn’t go down well with his party, sought to sidestep a query on Modi as the prime ministerial candidate. “It is for the BJP to decide. We (JD-U) are part of the NDA and we should support whoever is decided upon as the PM candidate,” he said.

Allowing a Hindu organisation to hold a yagna for Modi is sure to annoy Nitish, whose no-compromise stand on the Gujarat leader is well known.

Nishad has a history of changing political colours and his latest posturing could be an attempt to get closer to the BJP. He is infamous for working against the party he represents in the Lok Sabha and switching over to another ahead of elections. “He is a typical example of a turncoat leader,” said a miffed JD(U) MP.

Nishad was first elected from the Muzaffarpur Lok Sabha seat in 1996 as a Janata Dal candidate. Nishad switched over to Lalu Prasad’s RJD after it split with the Janata Dal and won the 1998 polls.

In 1999, he jumped to the JD(U) and won the Muzaffarpur seat for a third term. Later, he crossed over to the BJP, which sent him to the Rajya Sabha. But the Upper House annulled his membership on the BJP’s charge that its MP had been sharing the dais with Lalu Prasad and was working for the cause of the RJD. The chairman of the House held the party’s allegation to be true and dismissed him from his membership under anti-defection laws.

In 2009, Nitish offered Nishad a ticket against the ailing George Fernandes, who had entered the fray as an Independent against the wishes of the JD(U) leadership. But soon after winning from Muzaffapur as a JD(U) nominee, Nishad was back to his old ways — working against his party and its leadership.

To the embarrassment of the Bihar chief minister, Nishad moved the Supreme Court against Nitish’s decision to scrap the local area fund for legislators following his return to power in 2010. Nishad did not stop there. He wrote a long letter to the chief minister demanding that Bihar be bifurcated into two parts — north and south.