Much water under bridge,Nitish returns Modis flood relief

Having put BJP leaders on the edge from Patna to Ahmedabad,Nitish returned to Patna late in the evening from Buxar and sought to dismiss the matter as unnecessary hype. Whatever decision we had to take,we took it last Saturday8230; There is nothing in this issue this Saturday8230;, Nitish said,apparently referring to his June 12 press conference where he announced that he would return the flood relief assistance of Rs 5 crore by the Modi government.

Nitish was provoked by an advertisement in local dailies that Gujarat had liberally contributed to the Bihar CMs relief fund for Kosi. I do not know the exact amount. I will go through the details and immediately return

the money received from Modi lying unspent in the CM relief account, an agitated Nitish had said. While the Gujarat government called Nitishs move as unfortunate,it underlined its happiness that the amount as well as the interest accruing on it for two years had come to good use in Bihar. The Gujarat government,its people and Gujarat BJP volunteers are happy that they could serve Bihar Kosi flood victims in 2008 when they needed it most, state government spokespersons said,spelling out in detail the additional relief material worth Rs 20 crore and a team of rescue experts sent by Gujarat to Bihar.

Gujarat just performed its humble duty and would continue to do so in future during natural calamities in any corner of India, they maintained.

The Gujarat statement,in fact,summed up the BJPs reaction towards this latest snub by Nitish. While the party is angry,it has decided not to exacerbate the rift but at the same time not accede too much to Nitish. Some insist the Bihar CM is only playing to his Muslim vote bank,but others in the BJP have come to believe that Nitish is preparing to do a Naveen Patnaik and would snap ties ahead of the Assembly polls.

According to Shivanand Tiwari,Nitish isnt happy at the way over-enthusiastic BJP leaders suggested the past week that there was nothing to stop Modi from campaigning in Bihar for the Assembly elections. Nitish is himself a star campaigner. He has to be consulted by the BJP on types of leaders required to campaign in Bihar, said Tiwari. The Bihar CM has made it clear to the BJP that Modi or Varun Gandhi were not welcome in the state for any election.

Reacting to Bihars return of Gujarats money,BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said: The money sent by the Gujarat government was the money of the people of Gujarat meant for flood victims in Bihar. The return of the money was clearly avoidable. There was no need for it. There should not be any politics over relief.

Saying the funds were given in a spirit of solidarity and empathy,BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman asked: I wonder if only the money is being returned or the feeling of empathy,solidarity and spirit of togetherness too.

Like he did after the January 12 stand-off,JDU chief Sharad Yadav tried to cool the heightened tempers between the parties. Ruling out any parting of ways,Yadav said in Delhi that the unpleasantness was over the same day as the contentious ad had appeared and pointed out that the two parties had fought the just-concluded Rajya Sabha polls together.

However,JDU national spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari,considered close to Nitish,said they were confident of fighting the Assembly elections on their own and that the onus was on the BJP to save the alliance. The BJP has to decide if it wants us. We will not sever ties from our own end.

He also asked the BJP to climb down from its recalcitrant stand on hyper-projection of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi as its 2014 PM candidate. Modis presence and projection on Bihar soil have damaged our agenda just a few months before the Assembly elections.

with ENS,Delhi