NaMo camp scores over SuMo group
The state BJP leaders appear to be divided into two camps — NaMo and SuMo.
The NaMO camp comprises those who want Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi as the NDA's prime ministerial candidate. The SuMo group members are supporters of deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who is strongly in favour of the continuation of the JD(U)-BJP alliance even if it means keeping Narendra Modi out of contention for the prime ministerial post. When the BJP leaders returned from the party's national executive meet in New Delhi, the NaMo camp members literally broke into a jig. “There was not a single clap for SuMo who spoke on the Union budget. He simply repeated the statement he made in Patna. Even his supporters joined us in cheering NaMo,” said a BJP MLA known as a vocal supporter of Narendra Modi. For a change, SuMo members have decided to remain silent for a while.
When former Union minister Nagmani joined the NCP, he was instantly declared the state party president by Union minister Tariq Anwar. Known for switching sides, a Patna reporter asked Nagmani how long would he stick to the NCP. The new NCP leader stressed that he had been wrongly painted as a frequent party-hopper. “I always have the benefit of downtrodden sections of the society in mind while changing parties,” he said. It is hard to buy Nagmani's logic. “Initially, he was in the RJD. Then he switched to the BJP. From there, he moved on to the LJP. Then he joined the JD(U). From the JD(U), he reverted to the RJD. Before the last Assembly polls, he joined the Congress and now he is in the NCP. Apart from the Left parties, it is the only political outfit he had not joined,” said a seasoned politician. Incidentally, the NCP had once made Upendra Prasad Kushwaha its state unit chief. Kushwaha later returned to the JD(U). Recently, he floated his own party. BJP MLA Vikram Kuer takes a jibe at the RJD bench whenever the main opposition party members shout at the treasury. “(Health minister Ashwini Kumar) Choubeyji ko bulay kya (Shall I call Choubeyji)?” he asks them. This budget session, Choubey has been having frequent verbal duels with the RJD legislators. Before the storm over Choubey’s remark on the RJD MLA, Akhtarul Imam, died down, he courted another controversy by asking the RJD MLAs to shut p. The minister has ot been seen inside he Assembly after hat. The RJD has boycotted him. “Vikram’s taunts are so irritating that I feel I should ask him to bring Choubeyji inside the House,” aid another RJD LA. While legislators were infuriated over the intense checking of their vehicles at the gates of the Bihar legislative building, BJP MLA Jawahar Prasad was unperturbed. He preferred walking down the Assembly. “You should give us one opportunity to check your vehicle, sir,” a police officer told the BJP MLA as he walked past the gates. Prasad gave policemen a lecture on the benefits of walking and then asked them to be ready for him on the eve of Holi. “I will bring colours that day and enjoy Holi with you,” he said.
