NEW DELHI: The BJP leadership went into a huddle with the party’s Bihar unit having to consider a proposal by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar to return to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that he had left last year to forge a coalition with RJD and Congress.
According to sources, the BJP leadership, which had reacted to Nitish Kumar’s defection by accusing him of betrayal and had claimed it would never do business with him again, was examining the Bihar CM’s overture with an open mind; the re-think having been influenced by the desire to maximise its returns from Bihar and inflict a lethal blow to the INDIA bloc at a time when it was already floundering.
There was no clarity about the terms of a likely deal especially with regard to whether Nitish will formally acquiesce in the reality of BJP being the stronger player, but JDU wants him to be retained as the chief minister in the new coalition. BJP appears to be keen to re-negotiate the terms and on having a better share of Lok Sabha seats.
Sources said Nitish camp, which had increasingly appeared restive in the INDIA bloc and, also suspicious of the intent of RJD and Congress, approached the BJP claiming that the Bihar CM was feeling suffocated in the opposition grouping and was keen to return to the NDA. BJP, which was initially cold to the feeler, came around to assessing from the point of view of political profit.
Sources said while opinion in Bihar remains split with one school vehemently arguing against joining hands with JDU on the ground that Nitish, with his image as a serial defector, stands a diminished figure and that BJP can improve its tally of 17 from last elections without re-aligning with him.
The rival viewpoint counsels discretion as it feels that weaning Nitish away from the ‘secular’ bloc will be a blow to opposition unity efforts as well as Congress’ attempt to play the ‘caste card’ in 2024.
The meeting at the residence of the Union home minister Amit Shah was attended by BJP chief JP Nadda, senior Bihar leader Sushil Modi, party’s pointpersons for Bihar Vinod Tawde and Bhikhu Bhai Talsania, state chief Samrat Chaudhary, leader of opposition in Bihar assembly Vijay Sinha, former deputy CMs Renu Devi and Tarkeshwar Prasad, among others.
The meeting was considered to be about the roadmap for another partnership with JDU. The party also has to contend with the antipathy of its ally, Chirag Paswan, towards Nitish Kumar and the vice versa, but neither this nor any resesrvations about JDU’s re-induction in the NDA will come in the way if the central leadership decides to accept Nitish’s offer.
Besides gains in the form of consolidation of non-Yadav backwards and most backwards, BJP’s change of stance also appears to have been influenced by the desire to hobble the INDIA bloc which is aleady reeling from West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s pull out.
There were murmurs of Nitish Kumar’s return to the NDA soon after he heaped lavish praises on PM Modi for decorating veteran socialist and backward leader Karpoori Thakur with ‘Bharat Ratna’ on January 23.
Nitish on Thursday attacked the trend of nepotism and dynastic succession in politics, a remark seen as direct attack on the Lalu Yadav family whose sons Tejashwi Yadav (deputy CM) and Tej Pratap are state ministers whereas his daughter Misa Yadav is a Rajya Sabha MP.
Earlier in the day, RJD president Lalu Prasad’s daughter Rohini Acharya took a swipe at Kumar for “changing his ideology as the wind changes its direction” in posts on ‘X’ following the JD(U) president’s swipe at parties promoting family members in politics.
The BJP has been showing signs of warming up to Kumar, who has swapped his alliance preference between the saffron party and the RJD-Congress-Left camp frequently while remaining in power, with its leaders toning down their criticism of him of late and even praising him at times.
Amit Shah himself sounded more open to such a possibility in a recent interview. Asked about the likelihood of the Janata Dal (U) president’s return to the BJP-led alliance, Shah said the party will consider if such a proposal is ever made. Earlier, Shah had often asserted that the doors had been closed for Kumar’s return to the country’s ruling alliance.
Bihar’s longest-serving chief minister has been cut up with the INDIA bloc for not getting a position in the alliance commensurate with his stature and also favours an early assembly poll to go with the Lok Sabha elections, a suggestion which has not drawn a positive response from the RJD, the biggest party in the state’s ruling alliance, sources said.
Kumar’s decision to take over as the party president by cutting short the tenure of Lalan Singh was seen as a determined effort by him to take firm control of its organisation amid suggestions by a section of JD(U) leaders that the chief minister’s confidant may have grown too close to the RJD or was pursuing an independent agenda.
Acharya also deleted her posts targeting the chief minister without naming him, hours after putting them out. The Bihar BJP accused Acharya, who does not hold any position in the RJD, of insulting Kumar and demanded an apology from her.
If Kumar returns to the NDA, this would be his fifth change of camp since 2013 as he has been changing sides from NDA to the mahagathbandhan, while he kept his job as state helmsman intact.
According to sources, the BJP leadership, which had reacted to Nitish Kumar’s defection by accusing him of betrayal and had claimed it would never do business with him again, was examining the Bihar CM’s overture with an open mind; the re-think having been influenced by the desire to maximise its returns from Bihar and inflict a lethal blow to the INDIA bloc at a time when it was already floundering.
There was no clarity about the terms of a likely deal especially with regard to whether Nitish will formally acquiesce in the reality of BJP being the stronger player, but JDU wants him to be retained as the chief minister in the new coalition. BJP appears to be keen to re-negotiate the terms and on having a better share of Lok Sabha seats.
Sources said Nitish camp, which had increasingly appeared restive in the INDIA bloc and, also suspicious of the intent of RJD and Congress, approached the BJP claiming that the Bihar CM was feeling suffocated in the opposition grouping and was keen to return to the NDA. BJP, which was initially cold to the feeler, came around to assessing from the point of view of political profit.
Sources said while opinion in Bihar remains split with one school vehemently arguing against joining hands with JDU on the ground that Nitish, with his image as a serial defector, stands a diminished figure and that BJP can improve its tally of 17 from last elections without re-aligning with him.
The rival viewpoint counsels discretion as it feels that weaning Nitish away from the ‘secular’ bloc will be a blow to opposition unity efforts as well as Congress’ attempt to play the ‘caste card’ in 2024.
The meeting at the residence of the Union home minister Amit Shah was attended by BJP chief JP Nadda, senior Bihar leader Sushil Modi, party’s pointpersons for Bihar Vinod Tawde and Bhikhu Bhai Talsania, state chief Samrat Chaudhary, leader of opposition in Bihar assembly Vijay Sinha, former deputy CMs Renu Devi and Tarkeshwar Prasad, among others.
The meeting was considered to be about the roadmap for another partnership with JDU. The party also has to contend with the antipathy of its ally, Chirag Paswan, towards Nitish Kumar and the vice versa, but neither this nor any resesrvations about JDU’s re-induction in the NDA will come in the way if the central leadership decides to accept Nitish’s offer.
Besides gains in the form of consolidation of non-Yadav backwards and most backwards, BJP’s change of stance also appears to have been influenced by the desire to hobble the INDIA bloc which is aleady reeling from West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s pull out.
There were murmurs of Nitish Kumar’s return to the NDA soon after he heaped lavish praises on PM Modi for decorating veteran socialist and backward leader Karpoori Thakur with ‘Bharat Ratna’ on January 23.
Nitish on Thursday attacked the trend of nepotism and dynastic succession in politics, a remark seen as direct attack on the Lalu Yadav family whose sons Tejashwi Yadav (deputy CM) and Tej Pratap are state ministers whereas his daughter Misa Yadav is a Rajya Sabha MP.
Earlier in the day, RJD president Lalu Prasad’s daughter Rohini Acharya took a swipe at Kumar for “changing his ideology as the wind changes its direction” in posts on ‘X’ following the JD(U) president’s swipe at parties promoting family members in politics.
The BJP has been showing signs of warming up to Kumar, who has swapped his alliance preference between the saffron party and the RJD-Congress-Left camp frequently while remaining in power, with its leaders toning down their criticism of him of late and even praising him at times.
Amit Shah himself sounded more open to such a possibility in a recent interview. Asked about the likelihood of the Janata Dal (U) president’s return to the BJP-led alliance, Shah said the party will consider if such a proposal is ever made. Earlier, Shah had often asserted that the doors had been closed for Kumar’s return to the country’s ruling alliance.
Bihar’s longest-serving chief minister has been cut up with the INDIA bloc for not getting a position in the alliance commensurate with his stature and also favours an early assembly poll to go with the Lok Sabha elections, a suggestion which has not drawn a positive response from the RJD, the biggest party in the state’s ruling alliance, sources said.
Kumar’s decision to take over as the party president by cutting short the tenure of Lalan Singh was seen as a determined effort by him to take firm control of its organisation amid suggestions by a section of JD(U) leaders that the chief minister’s confidant may have grown too close to the RJD or was pursuing an independent agenda.
Acharya also deleted her posts targeting the chief minister without naming him, hours after putting them out. The Bihar BJP accused Acharya, who does not hold any position in the RJD, of insulting Kumar and demanded an apology from her.
If Kumar returns to the NDA, this would be his fifth change of camp since 2013 as he has been changing sides from NDA to the mahagathbandhan, while he kept his job as state helmsman intact.
