Slamming Narendra Modi ‘coronation’,’hegemony’,JD(U) calls it quits

Sunday’s development leaves the NDA with just three parties — the BJP,Shiv Sena and Akali Dal.

Nitish met Bihar Governor D Y Patil in the afternoon and requested him to convene a special session of the Assembly on June 19 for him to seek a vote of confidence. He announced removal of 11 BJP ministers from his Cabinet.

With 118 MLAs in the House of 243,the JD(U) is four short of a majority. The party did not elaborate if it had the support of Independents. It is not likely to seek the support of the Congress,which has four MLAs.

The JD(U) emphasised that while Modi being named head of the BJP poll panel was an “internal matter” of the party,what left them aggrieved was the way it was done.

The Goa announcement regarding Modi had created anxiety and concern among party workers and led them to doubt if it was “a ceremonial prelude to his (Narendra Modi’s) nomination as prime ministerial candidate”,the JD(U) said.

“We cannot go into technical things… It was a matter of the perception that was being conveyed to party workers and people. We are a political party and have been deeply concerned with the happenings in the BJP over the past six-seven months,” Nitish said. According to him,the language used by the new BJP campaign committee chief sounded “frightening” for a section of the society.

Earlier,Nitish called a state Cabinet meeting,which was not attended by the 16 BJP ministers.

“The NDA government has been doing very well in Bihar and the world noticed the progress we made in the past seven and a half years. In 2010,there was an attempt made to destabilise the equation (by central BJP leaders) but we got over it. However,the fast change of events in recent months pushed us to the wall and made us sever ties,” the CM added,saying they were not afraid of the consequences of a split.

Asked about the BJP demand that he put in his papers and take fresh oath as CM,Nitish said though their win in Bihar was a mandate for the NDA,it was he who had been projected as the leader of the alliance. “In any case,we have never tried to run away with credit for good governance. And whenever we tried to talk about success stories of a poor state like Bihar,some people envied and did not like it,” he said,in an oblique reference to Modi.

A 90-minute JD(U) meeting earlier passed a three-page resolution on the political situation and circumstances pushing it to snap ties with the BJP. In its press release announcing the split,the party said: “There is a rapid rise (in the BJP) of the hegemonic control of a leadership that does not represent the characteristics which we had emphasised for the continuation of the alliance. There is increased dominance of this leadership in the party (BJP) with intentions of thrusting its decisions on the alliance partner.”

Criticising “growing intolerance to any voice of dissent”,the JD(U) statement said: “The same autocratic personality cult with scant respect for democratic decision-making process has led to the demise of the Vajpayee-Advani era of a more tolerant,accommodating and inclusive model and framework of partnership.”

The announcement of the split was marked by high drama with a group of Muslim leaders hailing Nitish. Sunni Waqf Board chairman Mohammed Irshadullah,who was among those present on the occasion,called it a “historic decision” and said Nitish was a “real” secular leader “unlike Lalu Prasad”.

Other onlookers said Nitish had done Sunday what Lalu had sought to achieve by stopping L K Advani’s rath yatra during the peak of the Ayodhya movement.