Fearing mass exodus of its MLAs to Nitish Kumar’s JD(U),BJP rushes to RSS

The BJP state unit has accused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of orchestrating the revolt. While one MLA has been suspended for six years,nearly a dozen BJP MLAs reportedly have complained against party leader Sushil Kumar Modi.

S K Modi,party general secretary and in-charge of state affairs Dharmendra Pradhan,Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly Nand Kishore Yadav,state party president Mangal Pandey and others met Bhagwat and discussed the the latest developments.

Related: Trouble brews in Bihar BJP,MLA suspended for rebellion

Though the leaders were tightlipped about what transpired at the meeting,senior BJP leader Giriraj Singh told reporters,”Of course when we sit together there will be some talk on prevailing political situation.”

This was the first visit of the sarsanghchalak of RSS,which has lent its support to Narendra Modi in the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections,to Bihar since the ruling JD(U) walked out of NDA.

Related: Modi warns Nitish: Betrayers will be taught a lesson

Pandey,who has his roots in RSS,however,told reporters that it was a courtesy call.

BJP national vice president C P Thakur,general secretary Radha Mohan Singh and former minister Chandramohan Rai were also present.

The meeting between top BJP leaders and Bhagwat acquires importance as the cracks within Bihar BJP widen with more party legislators openly venting their anger on the inner party democracy and charging S K Modi with ‘hijacking’ the party.

The revolt was triggered by Amarnath Gami,BJP MLA from Hayaghat in Darbhanga,who was suspended for 6 years.

Gami has claimed that a dozen BJP MLAs shared his view. This claim has been dismissed by the BJP.

Vijay Kumar Mishra,BJP MLA from Jale in Darbhanga,has come in support of Gami. “Injustice has been done to Gami who has been suspended from the party without show cause notice,” he said.

Rana Gangeshwar Singh,the party’s MLA from Moiuddinnagar in Samastipur praised Kumar and said if JD(U) gets 20-30 MPs in the 2014 parliamentary elections,he would definitely become the prime minister.

He also questioned BJP’s ‘rigidity’ about Narendra Modi and suggested to the party leadership to change the ‘player’ so that Nitish Kumar could be brought back to NDA.

“I am openly with Nitish Kumar and can make any sacrifice for him,” he said.

The BJP dissidents claimed that many MLAs had boycotted the legislature party meeting on the eve of the confidence vote on June 19 which forced it to stage a walk out before voting.

Thakur,whose reservation against S K Modi is no secret,said some party leaders and workers are unhappy in Patna too and the leadership should talk to them.

BJP has decided to take on JD(U),its erstwhile NDA partner,for ‘betraying’ peoples mandate which was for the alliance.

BJP would host protests in the district headquarters against Kumar for ‘betraying’ the peoples mandate. The protest would begin from the chief minister’s native district Nalanda on July 25,Pandey told newsmen.

JD(U) was encouraging ‘horse trading’ by ‘luring’ its leaders and those of other opposition parties to save the chair of the chief minister,he claimed adding many JD(U) MLAs are in contact with BJP and the ruling party would witness large scale exodus the day Kumar expands his cabinet.

In a counter-claim Narendra Singh,a senior minister in the Nitish Kumar government,said around 42 BJP MLAs and 17 from RJD are ‘standing on the doors of JD(U)’.

Bihar JD(U) chief Bashist Narayan Singh said many BJP MLAs are feeling ‘suffocated’ and had approached the ruling party.

Meanwhile,Chief Minister Nitish Kumar held a marathon meeting of JD(U) legislators,state party office bearers and prominent workers from across the state during the day at his official rsidence to draw up a strategy for ‘mission 2014’.

Later,S K Modi,the former deputy chief minister,made a scathing attack on Kumar for ‘triggering trouble’ in BJP and said it also could do the same to JD(U).

“Its like T20 match … the number of wickets they (JD-U) claim from our side (BJP) we will pick double the number of wickets,” Modi told reporters emerging from a function attended by the RSS chief.

Hitting out at the CM,he said the person who claims to have sacrificed everything in the name of principles is actually ‘luring’ BJP MLAs through use of crores of rupees and in the name of 12 vacant seats of Legislative council.

“For the 12 vacant seats of nominated members in the Bihar legislative council,the CM has in fact lured more than 50 persons of different parties with a promise to make them minister afterwards,” Modi said.

Modi claimed that more than two dozen JD(U) MLAs are in touch with BJP and the day Kumar expands his cabinet they would switch over to it.

“Nitish Kumar has not expanded his Cabinet even after 40 days (since the NDA split). If he has the courage he should do so before monsoon session of both houses of Bihar legislature starting from July 26,” the senior BJP leader said.

Bihar,he said,has been the ‘greatest looser’ due to the break up in NDA.

He drew parallels between the present situation in Bihar with the one prevailing between 1967 to 71 in the state,when it witnessed ‘Aaya Ram Gaya Ram’ (free trading of MLAs) kind of situation due to political instability.