Has JD-U’s exit strengthened Narendra Modi?

That the JD-U’s exit would boost Modi’s case within the BJP was evident in the manner in which a number of leaders sprang to his defence on Sunday. “For one unfortunate riot that took place in 2002, can Narendra Modi be described as communal?” asked BJP president Rajnath Singh. The Gujarat unit of the party is particularly ecstatic.

“To an extent, strings were pulled from here to convince the central leadership that the break-up will not be such a bad thing for the party,” said a senior leader of the party.

However, the split puts an added responsibility on Modi as he will have to figure out how to make up for the 20 seats that the NDA will lose on account of the JD-U’s exit. BJP fishes out Nitish’s Modi eulogy
Hours after the JD-U’s pullout, the BJP unleashed a campaign to “nail Nitish Kumar’s lies”. The party circulated the copy of a speech Nitish delivered lavishly praising Narendra Modi in 2003 when the two shared the dais at a function at Adipur in Kutch.

“I hope Narendra bhai doesn’t restrict himself to Gujarat and that the country will get to benefit from his services,” the BJP quoted Nitish as saying. It is believed that it was Modi’s team that had dug out and preserved the speech to take the sting out of Nitish’s criticism of the Gujarat CM.

“If he could shower praise on Modi one year after the riots, why has he suddenly discovered secularism?” a BJP leader considered close to Modi said. The JD-U hasn’t taken kindly to this.

“The BJP shouldn’t resort to such character assassination,” JD-U general secretary K.C. Tyagi said.