After the BJP’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections, there is uneasiness in the camp of its key ally, the Janata Dal (United). The party, which has 20 MPs in the 15th Lok Sabha, is holding a meeting of its national executive body in New Delhi over the weekend, where its alliance with the BJP will also be discussed. While explaining the ideological similarities between the JD(U) and Congress, JD(U) MP and former top bureaucrat N K Singh tells J P Yadav that his party is keenly watching which way the BJP goes post-polls

•The election results have dealt a big blow to the BJP. How is the JD(U) positioning itself in the changed political scenario? Don’t you think in the long run the BJP might prove detrimental to the JD(U) on the national scene?

The JD(U) has done well, bagging 20 out of the 25 seats it contested. We believe this is a positive mandate for the development agenda being pursued by the Nitish Kumar Government. So far, the BJP has not come in the way of our development and minority welfare agenda. In the last 42 months, not a single communal incident has happened. In Bihar, the alliance with the BJP has worked satisfactorily. We have been saying the mandate for the alliance is for five years and we would not like to disturb it.

Now, the broader question of where the BJP is going is important. Whether our alliance with the BJP is positive or negative will depend on the way the BJP chooses to go. The BJP is doing introspection. Let’s see what the outcome of the BJP’s own introspection is. Are they (BJP) going to end the confusion and move towards being a fundamentalist party where there may be no place for allies? We are also doing introspection, keeping an eye on what is happening on the larger political canvas.

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