Nitish Kumar walks out of 17-yr old alliance with BJP,to seek floor test in Bihar

Today’s development is a major jolt to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which is now left with only three constituents — BJP,Shiv Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

JD (U) President Sharad Yadav and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced the break up of the coalition at a press conference,exactly a week after Modi was made the BJP’s campaign committee chairman,considered just a step short of being made the prime ministerial candidate. Yadav also quit as Convenor of the NDA.

“We cannot compromise with our basic principles. We are not worried about the consequences. As long as the alliance was Bihar-centric,there was no problem. But we had no alternative now. We are not responsible. We were forced to take this decision.

“The BJP is going through a new phase. As long as there was no external interference in the Bihar alliance,it ran smoothly. Problems began whenever there was external interference,” Kumar said without taking the name of Modi even once in the half-an-hour press conference but made several barbs aimed at him.

Though JD (U)’s decision comes a week after Modi’s elevation in Goa,the party’s National Council had a few months ago set a deadline of December asking BJP to name its PM candidate.

The party has always made its aversion to Modi explicitly clear on a number of occasions. Kumar had three years cancelled a dinner with senior BJP leaders including L K Advani because of Modi’s presence.

When asked whether he was referring to Modi,Kumar said “those who understand have understood,those who don’t are naive”.

In an indirect reference to Modi’s new appointment in BJP,Kumar said that there was no problem when the late Pramod Mahajan and Arun Jaitley were made campaign committee chiefs in the past.

“Everybody knew what were our basic concerns,” he said in an apparent reference his and his party’s serious reservations over projecting Modi.

At his insistence,the BJP had taken out Modi from its list of campaigners in Bihar in elections.

In the 243-member assembly,the JD (U) has 118 MLAs and BJP 91. JD (U) just needs four MLAs for a majority.

Independents and ‘Others’ account for 6 MLAs. The main Opposition RJD has 22 and Congress four.

The Bihar CM said there is a need to enlarge the umbrella of NDA by bringing in new allies if the alliance wanted to form the next government at the Centre.

“You want to form the government,but don’t be under the misconception. No single party is going to get the majority. It requires 272 MPs to make somebody the Prime Minister.

“For that the NDA has to get more allies. If people think there is some wave or a storm is blowing in their favour,they are under a misconception,” he said in another dig at Modi.

Nitish has been leading the JD(U)-BJP government since 2005. In the 2005 Assembly elections,the JD(U) and BJP had contested 139 and 102 seats respectively. While JD(U) won 88 Assembly seats,the BJP was victorious in 55.

He has been able to consolidate his hold on the electorate as was evident in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls when the JD(U) improved its position from 5 to 20 seats out of a total of 40 parliamentary seats. The BJP,defying the national trend,had also done well,increasing its tally from 5 to 12 seats.

The NDA was established in May 1998 with 13 constituent parties at that time with JD(U) president Sharad Yadav,as its convenor and Atal Bihari Vajpayee as its chairman.

In 1999,NDA in Bihar,including BJP and JD(U),won 23 and 18 seats respectively out of 54 seats in the then united Bihar.

Nitish was appointed chief minister on March 3,2000 but resigned seven days later due to fractured mandate and failing to prove majority.

In 2004,NDA partners JD(U) and BJP won 6 and 5 Lok Sabha seats respectively out of 40 seats in Bihar. Nitish became Railway minister in Vajpayee cabinet

The February 2005 Assembly polls threw up a fractured mandate with JD (U) winning 55 seats and BJP garnering 37 seats out of 243 seats. In the same year,President’s rule was imposed and polls announced again due to fractured mandate.

In the November 2005 Assembly polls,The NDA won with a clear majority with JD(U) winning 88 seats and BJP 55 seats in the 243-member Bihar assembly. NDA’s projected leader Nitish Kumar became the chief minister with Vajpayee and Advani’s blessings.

In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections,the NDA won 20 seats and 12 seats out of 40 seats in Bihar. Nitish prevented Modi to come to Bihar for poll campaign saying Bihar has its own Modi referring to Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.

In the 2010 Assembly elections,NDA won 115 seats and BJP 91 seats in the 243-member state assembly. Again Modi did not come to Bihar for campaigning.