What next for the Man Friday?

Patna, Oct. 24: Bihar is the next big thing for the BJP after its spectacular performance in the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly polls but Amit Shah would be on a far trickier turf in the state.

Shah, the BJP’s national president, has already sent the message that he means business in Bihar by making Rajasthan MP Bhupender Yadav the state in-charge of the party. But political observers believe that Shah’s task in Bihar would be tougher than that in Haryana or Maharashtra, where the BJP’s rivals were divided. The bickering within could also spoil “the party”.

“In both these states, the BJP faced a splintered opposition. In Bihar, its opponents are united. They are licking their wounds after a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, which they fought separately,” said a senior BJP leader.

The NDA polled around 39 per cent of the votes in the Lok Sabha polls despite bagging 31 seats out of 40. The combined vote share of the RJD, JDU and the Congress was around 44 per cent. “Doubts about the BJP’s prospects in Bihar are being raised only because of the results of the bypolls. The scenario in the Assembly elections would be different, in which the state leadership would hardly matter. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the party president, Shah, will lead our campaign. The results will be the same as in Haryana and Maharshtra. We have a stronger organisation in Bihar than Haryana,” BJP MP Giriraj Singh said.

“The poll outcome credit or discredit will go to the central leadership instead of the state leaders,” said another BJP MP.

Besides the possibility of the RJD, the Congress and the JDU contesting the 2015 Assembly polls together, the BJP’s internal rift in the state leadership is a big worry. Begusarai MP Bhola Prasad, Rajya Sabha MP Dr C.P. Thakur and former minister Chandramohan Rai openly aired their views against former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, claiming that the state BJP had become a “pocket organisation” and senior leaders were being ignored. Their public statements have embarrassed the party to the delight of former ally JDU.

“(Sushil) Modiji appears to be frightened about his own leaders. So, he is issuing baseless statements against our party,” said JDU spokesperson Sanjay Singh.

The supporters of Sushil Kumar Modi dismissed the charges of the senior leaders, claiming them to be efforts of the old guards to retain their political relevance. “Rai is angry because he was not given a ticket in the Lok Sabha polls. Thakur is trying to promote his son and Bhola Babu is angry because he could not make it to the Union ministry,” said a BJP MLA, stressing that Sushil Kumar Modi had been the Bihar BJP’s poster boy for over a decade. “We do not have any alternative,” he said.

The BJP leaders appear to be aware that the party chief, Shah, is unlikely to project anyone as the chief ministerial candidate. A remark of Union minister Radhamohan Singh suggesting the name of Sushil Kumar Modi as the chief ministerial candidate prompted a spree of public statements against any such move. The dust settled only when the central leadership indicated that the party would go to the polls without naming the chief ministerial candidate.