Nitish Kumar interacts with the media in Patna on Monday. (PTI)

Patna, June 10: The erosion of L.K. Advani’s influence and the elevation of Narendra Modi in the BJP has forced the JD(U) to rethink on its position that it would give its ally time till the end of the year to declare its candidate for Prime Minister.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar today said the developments within the BJP were being monitored closely and his party would declare its stand “soon”. But he refused to elaborate on the issue while speaking to reporters after holding his weekly Janata Durbar. Nitish also denied that BJP president Rajnath Singh had telephoned him to convey the party’s decision on Modi.

The chief minister’s statement is a complete U-turn from the comments dished out by his party leaders on Sunday when they variously described Modi’s elevation as an “internal affair of the BJP” and “December deadline for announcement of PM candidate”.

“We would look like fools if we still insist on the December deadline. The development in Goa has left little doubt over who would be the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate. Everybody knows it. If we wait for December, it will be too late. The more we wait the more damage it will do to the party,” a JD(U) MP said, stressing that Nitish had little option but to break out of the alliance.

However, the presence of Modi isn’t the only irritant. National president Sharad Yadav hit the heart of the matter when he said that the JD(U) had formed the NDA with Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani. “With the exit of Advani from the BJP’s main power structure, Nitish will find it very difficult to have his way with the BJP on issues like the number of seats to be contested, Rajya Sabha berths and dictating who would and who would not come to Bihar. Advaniji pampered Nitishji and did everything that Nitish asked for,” said another JD(U) MP, while recalling that it was at the intervention of Advani that the BJP had agreed to give the Muzaffarpur Lok Sabha seat and an extra Rajya Sabha berth to JD(U). “Remaining with the BJP has become untenable because Narendra Modi is not going to be generous to Nitish Kumar,” he added.

JD(U) spokesperson K.C. Tyagi said the party is shocked by Advani’s resignation. “We are shocked by Advaniji’s resignation and we will have to reconsider our relations regarding the NDA. The NDA is now on a ventilator,” Tyagi said in the north Bengal hill station of Darjeeling, where he was visiting as a member of the delegation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on power.

Nitish is yet to speak his mind to party leaders. “It’s a one-man party and Nitish has to decide. But there is no way one can see him continuing with the BJP with Narendra Modi at the helm. If he decides to quit, the alliance will be over within a few weeks,” a JD(U) MLA said, pointing out that political rivals Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan were already taunting him after the elevation of Modi.

With 118 MLAs in the Assembly of 243, the JD(U) sees no problem in the Nitish government surviving without the support of the BJP’s 91 members. It expects to get the backing of the Independents. “The main problem of life after BJP is the lack of cadres, possible erosion of upper caste votes and the doubt if the Muslims will support us or the RJD,” the MLA said.

The mood in the BJP camp is that of defiance. “We are ready for a split with the JD(U) even if it means we are out of government,” said a BJP legislator.