BJP-JDU deal: Modi wont be discussed till Assembly polls

Bihar BJP in-charge Ananth Kumar took a complete U-turn on Narendra Modi after his last weeks Bihar invitation to the Gujarat CM,as he said: Campaigners from BJP will be announced at the right time. Ananth did not reply to any questions on Modi,saying the partys state unit would meet on July 18 to prepare the election strategy and hold development camps in Assembly segments between July 23 and July 30. No decision,however,on seat-sharing has been taken yet.

On Sunday,Nitish met top-level BJP leadership for the first time since the ad controversy. He met Opposition leader in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley,Bihar BJP in-charge Ananth Kumar and his deputy Dharmendra Pradhan at the Patna residence of state BJP chief C P Thakur. BJP spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad and Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi and other state leaders also attended the meeting.

Top sources told The Indian Express that Jaitleys meeting with Nitish was necessitated by Ananth Kumar recently inviting Narendra Modi to campaign in the Bihar elections and party spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy justifying Ananths stand. Though Nitish chose not to react to it,JDU sources said Nitish wanted BJP to take one final stand on Narendra Modi vis-à-vis the Bihar elections.

A BJP source said: The presence of all top BJP leaders,who have to play a role in forthcoming Assembly elections,at todays meet with the CM was Jaitleys way to assure Nitish that nothing would go wrong from here. Much of the patchwork talk had already been done by senior BJP leaders on phone with Nitish. The meeting continued for close to two hours. Officially,Jaitley called it a social and simple breakfast meeting. Nitish,for his part,left for Saharasa without saying anything.

JD-U national spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari told The Indian Express : Though I was not part of CMs meeting with BJP leaders,this much is sure that Nitish enjoys great comfort level and rapport with Jaitley.

He said whatever the two leaders discussed during the meet would have been in consonance with JD-U stated stand on no Narendra Modi in Bihar. Since the ad controversy,one BJP leader or the other had been speaking on Modi,which was not doing any good to alliance. We hope NDA would concentrate on election strategy now after this meet, said Tiwari.

BJP leaders meet at the residence of party MLC Ganga Prasad was an immediate follow-up action to arrive at consistency in leaders future statements post Jaitley-Nitish meet. State BJP leaders reportedly impressed upon Jaitley and Ananth not to bring in Narendra Modi for the time being and rather concentrate on development plank of Nitish-led government.