Patna, Feb. 26: Former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra today resigned as general secretary of the Nationalist Congress Party amid speculation that he is set to join the NDA to contest the Jhanjharpur Lok Sabha seat.

The BJP’s state unit is ready to welcome the three-time chief minister into the NDA-fold with party chief Gopal Narayan Singh having “no objections” to Mishra’s joining the Dal(U).

But BJP veteran and leader of Opposition Sushil Kumar Modi is against letting Mishra, an accused in the fodder scam case along with Rashtriya Janata Dal president Laloo Prasad Yadav, join the alliance.

Mishra today sent a letter to NCP president Sharad Pawar saying: “I have been compelled to leave the party by the circumstances prevailing in Bihar.” The former chief minister, however, said he was yet to decide on his next move.

Mishra had left the Congress to form the Bharatiya Jana Congress, which merged with the NCP three years ago. Jhanjharpur was represented in the dissolved Lok Sabha by rebel Dal(U) leader Devendra Prasad Yadav, who yesterday joined the RJD in the presence of Laloo Prasad.

Former state police chief D.P. Ojha has also come closer to the NDA as he wants to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Begusarai, which has a substantial presence of Bhumihars, the caste to which Ojha belongs.

Ojha, who was removed after he called the RJD-led government the fountainhead of criminalisation of political power in Bihar, has been granted voluntary retirement. “I will fight on the twin planks of criminalisation of politics and the plight of two crore unemployed youth in the state. I will definitely fight against the RJD-supported candidate, preferably as an Independent,” Ojha told The Telegraph.

The BJP said it would like Ojha to contest from Begusarai as “he is sure to win with a comfortable margin”. “The former DGP had approached senior NDA leaders. He said he would like to contest as part of the alliance but as an Independent. We prefer him to fight on the symbol of the BJP or the Janata Dal (United). But these details can be worked out later. What is important is his decision to contest,” said the state BJP president.