JD (U),BJP set to part ways,announcement after Bihar Cabinet meet

“Everything will be decided tomorrow,” JD(U) president Sharad Yadav told reporters Saturday after arriving from Delhi. He later met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at Kumar’s residence.

But other leaders in the party were more forthright. JD(U) national spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari,who again called Modi a “divisive force”,said the announcement of the split was just “a matter of formality now”.

State BJP leaders agreed,with the party’s Bihar unit president Mangal Pandey saying they had completely given up on saving the alliance.

“It looks to be over now. We are now discussing if the CM,who had taken oath as the NDA legislature leader,will resign and take a fresh oath as the JD(U) leader and prove his majority. We will react accordingly and exit gracefully,” Pandey said.

Senior BJP leaders Ravishankar Prasad,Shahnawaz Hussain and Dharmendra Pradhan met in Delhi to assess the Bihar situation and seemed to have reconciled to the JD(U) walking out of the NDA. “In this politics dominated environment,it will be a good change to watch India-Pak cricket match,” Hussain tweeted,referring to Saturday’s rain-hit game between the two sides in the Champions Trophy in England.

Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi and state NDA convener and Road Construction Minister Nand Kishore Yadav turned down Nitish Kumar’s request for talks on Saturday.

“We are not authorized to talk on the alliance with the CM. Our national leaders have already taken a stand,” Yadav said. The Bihar unit of the BJP called an emergency meeting of its 16 ministers for the third day Saturday to decide party strategy.

“Nitish Kumar should seek a fresh mandate as it was a mandate for the NDA. After the split,JD(U) will be in a minority and can engage in horse trading,” senior BJP leader and minister Chandramohan Roy said.

The JDU,which has 118 MLAs including the Assembly speaker,needs the support of five more to stay in power. Of the six independent MLAs,five have reportedly offered their support to the JD(U) in the event of the ruling party ending its alliance with the BJP.

Earlier in the day,in what appeared like a feeble,last-minute offer to save the alliance,one JD(U) leader claimed the party had suggested that Sushma Swaraj,leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha,be named the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate.

Swaraj is among the top BJP leaders who have spoken to Nitish Kumar over the last three days to dissuade him from ending the alliance. She spoke to Kumar on Friday as well and tweeted about the need for “opposition unity to defeat Congress”.

Although the JD(U) reiterated that “any NDA PM candidate other than Narendra Modi”was acceptable to it,JD(U) Rajya Sabha MP Ali Anwar added that the BJP had “lost respect” for its elders and women.

“BJP,that talks of high social and moral values,has cornered its elder L K Advani over Narendra Modi and has not shown due respect to its leading woman politician and leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj. Why can’t she be the NDA PM candidate?” Anwar told The Sunday Express.

He said if the BJP was still keen to save the alliance,it must announce a name to “push Narendra Modi behind”.

“Private conversations between top BJP leaders and Nitish Kumar is not going to help now. If the BJP is really keen on saving the relationship,it must announce the NDA PM candidate now. Sushma Swaraj could be one such name,”Anwar said.

Meanwhile,RJD chief Lalu Prasad asked his 22 MLAs not to talk to leaders of other parties who may try to poach them. “There cannot be a split in RJD,there will be a split in the JD(U) soon,” Lalu said.

“How come Nitish did not think of Muslims while sharing power in Bihar with the BJP for eight years ?” he asked and added that Kumar could not shed the tag now of being communal.