Patna,(BiharTimes): It appears to be lull after the storm. After days of heavy verbal exchange of fire the BJP has asked its Bihar leaders not to open their mouths aginst the alliance partner, Janata Dal (United) any more. The party chief Rajnath Singh went on record to state that BJP does not want any NDA partner to leave the alliance.
Days after Nitish Kumar’s April 14 speech at the National Executive meet of his party in New Delhi the the Janata Dal (United) appears to have softened its stand. Its Secretary General K C Tyagi talked in much milder tone raising some hope that the alliance may survive.
The Janata Dal (United) has finally realized its weakness. It knows that it can twist the arms of senior partner BJP till a limit. The aggressive stand taken by some of Hindutva party leaders have forced a section of Janata Dal (United) to realize that it would be futile to go too far.
While Janata Dal (United)’s strength lies in the one-man, Nitish Kumar, BJP is a cadre-based party with strong organizational network all over the state. But a sizeable section of the saffron party wants to project Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate to counter the Congress’ Nehru-Gandhi family hold. Apart from that the presence of Gujarat chief minister would send a powerful message to ambitious regional satraps of NDA, like Nitish Kumar.
So if Narendra Modi is projected as PM candidate the BJP will have double advantage. It will have a personality, which may pull more Hindu votes––BJP generally does not play Muslim politics––in Bihar. Besides, it will have cadres––a quality which Janata Dal (United) seriously lack. Even much weak RJD has an edge as the castemen on which it relies often double as cadres of the party.
As in the family life so in politics sometimes it becomes too difficult to divorce after living together too long––17 years in this case. Thus the impact of separation would be much more devastating than what one usually imagines. It may seriously damage both the alliance partners of the NDA. But even if the two bury the hatchet and decide to go together the mistrust caused by repeated war of words will have its impact on the workers and supporters. This would be very much similar to the way children of ever-quarrelling husband and wife suffer.
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