Patna,(BiharTimes): After the elevation of Narendra Modi to the post of the chairman of the Campaign Committee of the BJP the party has in all practical purposes made it clear who is its prime ministerial candidate. Yet Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is silent.

Till a day earlier some of his foot soldiers had been speaking out against the Gujarat chief minister, but now the party appears to be in a real dilemma.

Nitish has taken the battle against Modi so far long that it is virtually impossible to return to the fold. Ever since June 12-13, 2010 Patna National Executive of the BJP the Bihar chief minister has spoken so much against his Gujarat counterpart that many people started believing that he had left behind arch-rivals Congress, RJD and Left parties in Modi-baiting. Even they are not so critical of Modi.

All this in spite of the fact that Nitish had an excellent relationship with Modi till three years back. During the 2002 communal riots of Gujarat, he, as the railway minister of the country, spoke nothing. Insiders would say that within the party platform he was very staunch in support of Modi.

During an election meeting in Punjab in May 2009 he publicly photographed himself hand-in-hand with Modi.

Till a few days back JD(U) leaders would say that that they do not need the Modi of Gujarat as they have their own Modi, who is capable of ensuring victory. But on Saturday the same Sushil Kumar Modi, till lately considered as JD(U) man in the BJP, called on Narendra Modi in Goa and talked with him for an hour. He also invited theGujart chief minister for Hunkar Rally in Patna on October 27.

Now with more and more BJP leaders hardening their stand what position would Nitish take. Till a few months back he would work as proxy for Lal Krishna Advani. He flagged off his Jan Chetna Yatra on Oct 11, 2011 from Shitab Diara, the birth place of Lok Nayak. In fact Oct 11 happens to be JP’s birthday. Now with Advani faction trounced what card will Nitish play.

Maharajganj by-poll has exposed the big weakness of the JD(U). The upper castes have shown sign of turning away from JD(U) and Muslim overwhelmingly voted against its candidate.

As the BJP workers showed total indifference there was no one to man many booths. Reports from Maharajganj suggest that as many as 200 booths had no JD(U) workers to man on the polling day. It is party of leaders without cadres. Normally, it would be the BJP workers who would do this job.

The party’s candidate, P K Shahi, lost the election by overwhelming margin of 1,37,000 votes when 70 JD(U) ministers, MLAs, MLCs and MPs campaign in it. But the leadership failed to realize that they would never work as replacement for the booth-level workers.

For the last so many months Nitish has been arm-twisting the BJP. Now with Modi firmly in saddle and party rank and file feeling more confident it would be seen how things take shape.