JUNE 17- Political observers, however, believe that Nitish’s decision is fraught with grave risks as the BJP will not only emerge as a formidable Opposition but also put his party in a tough electoral fight in the state.
Nitish, who had been asking the BJP to desist from putting the Gujarat Chief Minister in the forefront ahead of the next Lok Sabha elections, said the JD-U was compelled to opt out of the NDA because of some recent developments within its coalition party.
“We cannot compromise on our basic principles, values and our stand on core issues which are central to the ethos of our party,” he said. “We do not care for consequences.”
What the future holds
Nitish’s decision to snap ties with the BJP over the Modi issue is apparently aimed at wooing the crucial Muslim voters, who make up 16.4 per cent of Bihar’s electorate. The JD-U leader has his reasons to believe that his carefully cultivated segments of extremely backward castes Mahadalits-Muslim combination will help him at the hustings as Muslim-Yadav (MY) factor worked for 15 years for Lalu Prasad. But it remains a moot point whether his anti-Modi stand will earn him the decisive Muslim votes in future. At least in the recent Maharajganj Lok Sabha bypoll, it did not.
His biggest worry would be losing the upper caste votes after the JD-U’s exit from the NDA.
It may not be easy to sway the Bhumihar, Brahmin and Rajput voters with the BJP fighting against his party now.
Lashing out at Nitish, his erstwhile deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi said the JD-U is wary of the rise of Narendra Modi because it fears that he might erode its vote base because he belonged to the backward castes and could polarise votes.
Sushil said Narendra Modi was an honest politician and had risen from a poor, backward family.
“Besides, he is not a product of dynastic politics. All these factors have made him a threat for some people.”
Sushil said the JD-U was pursuing ‘politics of convenience’ as far as secularism was concerned.
“Almost all the leaders of the BJP have been branded communal but all parties, except the Congress, have tied up with the BJP in the past. Even CPI has joined hands with it in Bihar,” he added.
Nitish, however, said the alliance had been running smoothly in Bihar and he wanted it to continue but “external interference” in the BJP had started creating JD-U chief Sharad Yadav and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar announce the split in Patna. problems within the party in recent times.
He said in today’s era of coalition politics when no national party was likely to get absolute majority in the general elections, the BJP should have made efforts to expand the NDA rather than reducing it. “Nobody should have any illusions of any wave favouring them in the next elections,” he said, alluding to BJP leaders’ all-out support for Modi.
Claiming that the people of Bihar had given their mandate for the development of Bihar only, Nitish said that he had invited the Bihar BJP leaders for talks on Saturday but they did not turn up. “The BJP ministers also refrained from attending the cabinet meet today and stopped performing their duties. This was a strange phenomenon in a parliamentary democracy. I have, therefore, recommended dismissal of the 11 ministers to the Governor.”
End of uncertainty
He said he had also asked Governor D.Y. Patil to convene a special session of the Bihar assembly so that he could prove his majority and put an end to the uncertainties.
The Raj Bhavan later accepted his recommendations.
Earlier, JD-U national president Sharad Yadav said the party had decided to part ways with the BJP in view of the developments in the BJP in the past six-seven months.
Announcing that he was resigning as the convenor of the NDA, Yadav said that the JD-U had adopted a political resolution on its alliance with the BJP.
Challenges for Nitish
Many in the JD-U are unhappy over the split in a “smooth coalition”.
– JD-U has 41 MLAs belonging to the upper castes and 19 Yadavs. Many would find it difficult to get re-elected minus the support of the BJP’s upper caste base.
– Despite Bihar Chief Minister Nitish’s firm stand against his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi, Muslims – who make up for 16.4 per cent of Bihar’s voters – are unlikely to vote en masse for the JD-U. The RJD-LJP alliance and even the Congress could win chunks of the minority vote.
– Rebel JD-U leaders like Upendra Kushwaha, Putul Singh and Shivraj Singh, who had been politically isolated, could now flock to the BJP and add to the anti-Nitish chorus.
– The JD-U will have to work overtime to expand its organisational base as it was, at least to some extent, dependent on BJP cadres on the ground.
