The Bharatiya Janata Party today invited Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to campaign in Bihar, a move sure to be a red rag to the Janata Dal (United). It may revive a bitter clash between the two coalition partners ahead of the Assembly elections.
“Modiji, please come to Bihar. You may campaign and hold the BJP flag high,”General Secretary and party in-charge of Bihar, Ananth Kumar told a meeting of the party’s Gujarat Executive here.
“I feel from the bottom of my heart that it may be Bangalore, Benaras, Ballia- Bharat or Bihar. We invite him to come to campaign. He is our leader,”he said to a thunderous applause from the party leaders. Modi and other senior leaders, including Arun Jaitley, were seated on the dais.
JD (U) leader Shivanand Tiwari reacted sharply to Kumar’s statement asking why BJP was being “adamant” on calling Modi for campaign.
“BJP wants to rule the whole of India. The days of one party rule are gone. Coalition is the rule of the day. Why is BJP adamant. Why is it creating a scene in Bihar,” he reasoned. Only last month, Nitish Kumar snubbed BJP by cancelling a dinner for its top leadership in Patna — while there for a meeting of the National Executive — after a couple of advertisements were published in local dailies showing Modi and Nitish Kumar holding their hands together.
Nitish Kumar also returned Rs 5 crore, the unspent aid given by the Gujarat government in 2008 to Bihar at the time of Kosi floods.
The joint campaign by Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi was also called off in the wake of the spat but later the decision was withdrawn.