PATNA: In a major setback to NDA ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha election, JD(U) today broke its ties with BJP in Bihar in protest against the elevation of Narendra Modi, bringing to an end a 17-year-old alliance that had held firm through thick and thin in the national politics.
Heading the eight-year-old coalition in the state, JD(U), which does not need BJP support to run the government, removed 11 saffron ministers from the state Cabinet and decided to seek a vote of confidence on June 19 in view of the “new situation”.
Today’s development is a major jolt to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which is now left with only three constituents — BJP, Shiv Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
JD(U) President Sharad Yadav and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced the break up of the coalition at a press conference, exactly a week after Modi was made the BJP’s campaign committee chairman, considered just a step short of being made the prime ministerial candidate. Yadav also quit as Convenor of the NDA.
“We cannot compromise with our basic principles. We are not worried about the consequences. As long as the alliance was Bihar-centric, there was no problem. But we had no alternative now. We are not responsible. We were forced to take this decision.
“The BJP is going through a new phase. As long as there was no external interference in the Bihar alliance, it ran smoothly. Problems began whenever there was external interference,” Kumar said without taking the name of Modi even once in the half-an-hour press conference but made several barbs aimed at him.
Though JD(U)’s decision comes a week after Modi’s elevation in Goa, the party’s National Council had a few months ago set a deadline of December asking BJP to name its PM candidate.
The party has made its aversion to Modi explicitly clear on a number of occasions. Kumar had three years ago cancelled a dinner with senior BJP leaders including L K Advani because of Modi’s presence.
When asked whether he was referring to Modi, Kumar said “those who understand have understood, those who don’t are naive”.
In an indirect reference to Modi’s new appointment in BJP, Kumar said that there was no problem when the late Pramod Mahajan and Arun Jaitley were made campaign committee chiefs in the past.
“Everybody knew what were our basic concerns,” he said in an apparent reference his and his party’s serious reservations over projecting Modi.
At his insistence, the BJP had taken out Modi from its list of campaigners in Bihar in elections.
In the 243-member assembly, the JD (U) has 118 MLAs and BJP 91. JD (U) just needs four MLAs for a majority. Independents and ‘Others’ account for 6 MLAs. The main Opposition RJD has 22 and Congress four.
The Bihar CM said there is a need to enlarge the umbrella of NDA by bringing in new allies if the alliance wanted to form the next government at the Centre.
“You want to form the government, but don’t be under the misconception. No single party is going to get the majority. It requires 272 MPs to make somebody the Prime Minister.
“For that the NDA has to get more allies. If people think there is some wave or a storm is blowing in their favour, they are under a misconception,” he said in another dig at Modi.
Tracing the recent political developments, Kumar said that things had become so difficult that when he praised the success of a backward state like Bihar under the NDA regime during JD(U)’s national council meeting, it was construed as going against somebody.
“The situation was so that we could not talk of even out achievements,” he said adding that the “external influence” has risen so much in Bihar that BJP leaders talk of their compulsion privately while they have to toe the line of their national party.
“There was no scope for compromising with that situation,” Kumar said.
Justifying the decision to remove the BJP ministers from the government, he said that he had called two senior ministers from BJP Nand Kishore Yadav and Sushil Kumar Modi for a discussion on how to part ways gracefully but they did not come.
“There were media reports that the BJP ministers have stopped working. So i thought of calling a Cabinet meeting on a routine agenda. But they did not come. In Parliamentary system, either you are a minister or not.
“There is no in between. Not resigning and not working do not go together…Hence we have recommended to the Governor the removal of 11 ministers,” he said.
Kumar said that the alliance had run on the basis of certain principles and JD(U) had a certain stand that it maintained through out.
“When certain things were done in a departure from that, the JD (U) took a political decision. After all being a political party, we have certain basic principles, “he said referring to the national agenda of the NDA under which the BJP had kept in abeyance its three controversial issues of Ram Temple, abrogation of Article 370 and Uniform Civil Code.
Party President Sharad Yadav said that while JD(U) had maintained as “internal matter” Modi’s elevation but the speeches of the BJP leaders that happened thereafter made us feel that they are going outside the limits of the national agenda.
“The situation became such that our party workers across the country were restless. A problems seems to have occurred now, which is different from the kind of trust that we had during the time of Atal Behari Vajpayee and L K Advani.
One of their general secretaries yesterday had gone to Lucknow. He said that Ram Temple is in their agenda. We realised that there is no point in going together. It will not benefit either us or them. We decided that ours and theirs ways are separate,” Yadav said. (AGENCIES)
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