No common course, Nitish skips yatra

Its spirits dampened by the calculated distance maintained by the Janata Dal U from the Bharat Suraksha Yatra...

Its spirits dampened by the calculated distance maintained by the Janata Dal U from the Bharat Suraksha Yatra, the BJP has not even extended an invite to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to join party president Rajnath Singh during his journey through Bihar. The BJP president will enter Bihar near Gaya on April 13 and stay there for three days, touching Sasaram, Ara, Patna, Hajipur, Chhapra, Siwan and Gopalganj.

The JDU has proved different from the two other NDA partners 8212; Biju Janata Dal and Akali Dal 8212; which have openly expressed support for the BJP8217;s Bharat Suraksha Yatra, targeting the UPA government8217;s policies. Orissa Chief Minister and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik shared the dais with Rajnath Singh at Bhubaneswar two days ago while Akali Dal chief Parkash Singh Badal has reportedly told the BJP chief that he would accompany him throughout Punjab.

8216;8216;No, I have not invited Nitishji,8217;8217; Rajnath Singh said today, emphasising that he 8216;8216;did not wish to create any difficulty for anyone8217;8217;. 8216;8216;He Nitish must be having his own political compulsions for staying away from the yatra.8217;8217;

Sources said even the BJD chief was initially disinclined to show up at the Bhubaneswar rally and had excused himself from the programme when senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu, coordinator of the Yatra, extended the invite to him. However, he changed his mind after Rajnath Singh called him up.

Bihar Deputy CM and senior state BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, who otherwise shares a very good equation with Nitish, said he had not spoken to the CM on the matter. 8216;8216;It is a central BJP leadership domain,8217;8217; he argued, adding that he had 8216;8216;no information about Nitish8217;s participation in the programme8217;8217;.

JDU parliamentary board chairman Sharad Yadav, who, like Nitish, is far more conscious than party president George Fernandes about steering clear of the BJP8217;s Hindutva agenda, was categorical. 8216;8216;There is no question of our participation in the BJP yatra. It is a BJP programme, not an NDA show,8217;8217; he emphasised.

Sharad and Nitish see no reason for playing second-fiddle to the BJP and alienating the 18 per cent Muslim vote in Bihar in the process. More so, when the JDU is going strong in the state.