Amid the war of words between the BJP and JD(U), deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi today called for a “no-poaching pact” between the alliance partners in Bihar.
Modi, perceived as being close to chief minister Nitish Kumar, said both parties must adhere to the alliance dharma and not cross the lakshman rekha — a pre-requisite for the success of any alliance to work effectively.
“Neither the BJP nor the JD(U) should take in leaders from the other party,” Modi told reporters at his official residence. “The BJP,” he promised, “will not cross the lakshman rekha.”
The deputy chief minister said defections in the run-up to elections were common. “During elections, our leaders go to other parties and leaders of other parties join us,” he remarked, insisting that he was against defection as a matter of principle.
He, however, said that under circumstances, defections should be discouraged. But he wasn’t willing to join the diatribe against former BJP MLC Sanjay Jha, who recently switched loyalties to the JD(U).
Jha, said to be the link between the BJP top brass and Nitish, drew flak from BJP hardliners from Bihar from switching camps.
Modi refused to comment on JD(U) national spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari’s statement that no amount of denials could absolve Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s involvement in the 2002 riots in his state. The deputy chief minister also ducked questions on the purported statement of BJP state president C.P. Thakur that Vikram in rural Patna district, and not Nalanda, the home district of Nitish Kumar, was the ideal location for a new airport. “The location of the new airport will be decided by the Airports Authority of India,” Modi said.
The latest bout of verbal volleys between the allies was touched off by the defection of Jha from the BJP to JD(U). A group of BJP leaders was quick to issue a statement dubbing Jha an opportunist and criticising the JD(U) for violating the coalition dharma.
BJP chief Thakur made a statement claiming that many JD(U) leaders were in touch with him and were willing to cross over to the BJP.
Thakur’s claims had then been ridiculed by JD(U) leaders. The chief minister, reacting to the state BJP president’s comments, had said “Doctor Saheb was free to take away as many JD(U) MLAs as he wanted and those JD(U) members wishing to join the BJP were free to do so. “ We have no problem,” Nitish had said.
The fresh conflict between the allies threatens to pierce the veil of silence that was in place following the vicious exchanges that followed in the aftermath of the storm generated by the chief minister who had said that the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate should have secular credentials, a pointed dig at Narendra Modi.
A meeting was called by the Bihar chief minister of all spokespersons of the party (except Shivanand Tiwari) and a gag was put on speaking anything about the alliance. But the truce appeared short-lived and jibes and counter-jibes have again started flowing following the defection of Jha.
As an NDA leader put it, the allies are trying hard to ensure that RJD leader Lalu Prasad’s prediction that the partners would be “divorced” soon is not proved right just yet.
