With just over a month left for the Assembly elections in Bihar, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying hard to please its ally Janata Dal-United (JD-U) to avoid any confrontation.
The six-phase elections kick off on October 21.
Soon after BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi announced at a press conference today that “star campaigner” and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi would campaign in Bihar, the party denied the statement, saying the names of the senior party campaigners had not been finalised.
“The names and campaign schedule of the BJP’s central leaders to be deputed for campaigning during Bihar Assembly elections have not been finalised. Neither the national nor the state BJP unit has finalised the names of BJP leaders for campaigning in the state elections,” the BJP said in a statement.
The flip-flop by Naqvi happened a day before Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is expected to be in Delhi for a detailed discussion to formulate strategies for the ensuing elections. Kumar is expected to meet JD-U president Sharad Yadav and senior BJP leaders tomorrow.
Both Nitish Kumar and Sushil Kumar Modi, the deputy chief minister of Bihar, are not in favour of Modi’s presence in their state during elections because it could take away crucial Muslim votes from the JD(U)-BJP alliance into the willing arms of Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal.
The presence of Modi during the national executive meeting in Patna earlier this year had led to bitter confrontation between the alliance partners. Nitish Kumar had snubbed Modi and cancelled the dinner organised for top leaders of the BJP after photographs were published in local newspapers showing the two chief ministers holding hands at a rally.
