Chief minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi with the Rajya Sabha candidates from the JD(U) and the BJP at the Assembly on Monday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, March 19: Eyeball to eyeball on a Rajya Sabha berth, the BJP has blinked.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar today won the protracted war of nerves with his ally on the contentious Rajya Sabha slot with the BJP yielding the sixth seat to the JD(U), sparking murmurs of a “sell-out” within its ranks.

The BJP will thus have to be content with two seats while the JD(U) will have four.

The climb down, after four days of verbal volleys between the Bihar partners, will enable the JD(U) to field its state president, Basishtha Narayan Singh, in the elections to the Upper House scheduled for March 30. Today was the last day for filing nominations.

Bihar BJP chief C.P. Thakur sought to put up a brave face. “The BJP is not on the backfoot. The JD(U) was under compulsion to accommodate one of its leaders. It will be compensated later,” he said, but did not elaborate on the mode of “compensation”. Sources said Nitish had assured the BJP of two additional Legislative Council seats in exchange for dropping its claim on the Rajya Sabha berth when the election to the upper chamber of the legislature is held in May.

The chief minister, who was locked in the “intricate operation” to make his reluctant ally give up its demand, was all smiles when the BJP leadership finally bowed to his wish around 12.30pm.

Flush with success, Nitish reached out to his ally by telling the JD(U) cadre to temper their celebrations. “It is not a JD(U) show. It is an NDA show — all six of our candidates will romp home victorious,” the chief minister said, as he appeared before the flashbulbs with the candidates — Basishtha Narayan Singh, Ali Anwar, Mahendra Prasad alias King Mahendra, Anil Sahni (all JD-U) and Ravi Shankar Prasad and Dharmendra Pradhan (BJP).

The magnanimity masked the bitter tug-of-war that had continued till noon with cadres in both the camps awaiting the outcome of the nerve-wracking negotiations over the seat. Sources said a section of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders had put pressure on deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi not to “surrender” to Nitish’s wish this time.

Top sources in the NDA, however, revealed that Modi worked in tandem with Nitish to smother the RSS’s “bid” to force its influence on the BJP in Bihar. A senior BJP leader described the development as a “victory” of Modi over sections within the Sangh who were attacking the deputy chief minister for his “meek acquiescence” to the JD(U). Modi, who shares a good rapport with Nitish, has the backing of senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley against the RSS pointsman and new BJP general secretary, Sanjay Joshi.

It was Modi who eventually announced that only two BJP candidates would file nominations. Both Modi and NDA convener and minister, Nand Kishore Yadav, said: “It is the NDA’s victory. All our candidates are winning.”

The announcement sparked a torrent of scathing remarks from the BJP rank and file, who said they had been “overshadowed” by the JD(U) despite belonging to a national party.

Some MLAs taunted BJP minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey, an old RSS hand. “You have to be congratulated for saving the two seats for the BJP,” said an MLA, looking at Choubey.

BJP minister Giriraj Singh, who had openly attacked Nitish on the issue of Narendra Modi, oozed sarcasm. “We are willing to give all six seats to our ally (JD U),” he said. BJP MLA and former minister Ram Pravesh Rai likened the fate of the party to that of the unit in Uttar Pradesh. “The party is going the UP way in Bihar. We are conceding ground to the JD(U), thanks to our weak leadership,” he said.

Given its numerical strength, the NDA is set to bag all six seats.

The RJD has fielded an Independent, Ashfaq Karim, who owns a private medical college in Katihar. Karim, who stands little chance, was ahead of the NDA candidates in arriving at the Assembly premises to file his papers. “I will win for I have the support of more than 35 MLAs — I have four-five surplus votes. All the secular members will vote for me because of their conscience,” he said.