NDA Splits as JD-U Leaves, BJP Hits Back At Nitish

By siliconindia | Monday, 17 June 2013, 03:41 Hrs

”Now it seems the BJP is trying to bring controversial issues like the Ram temple into its agenda," he said, referring to the raging temple row of Ayodhya that the BJP had put on the backburner for years.

The BJP hit back. Sushil Modi asked Nitish Kumar to resign on moral grounds.

"He was elected as head of the NDA in Bihar when he was made the chief minister. Now that he is no more an NDA leader, he has no moral right to continue."

Sushil Modi, once considered close to Nitish Kumar, said the JD-U decision was "a black letter day".

In Kanpur, BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said his party won't go back on the decision to make Narendra Modi its election campaign chief.

"Whatever decision has been taken on Narendra Modi, we will not go back at any cost, whether the NDA alliance breaks once or 10 times."

However, BJP chief Rajnath Singh was more guarded in his reaction, even as he defended the decision to elevate Narendra Modi.

"Why did the JD-U snap ties (with the BJP)? What was our mistake? They have disintegrated our emotional relationship of 17 years," he said, while addressing the BJP's youth convention in New Delhi.

"To be successful in the general elections, we have made Narendra Modi the chief of the election campaign committee. Is that my mistake? Every political party creates a campaign committee for any elections. Was the JD-U angered just by this and snapped such old ties?" he said.

Earlier Sunday, Nitish Kumar met the governor and said he wanted all BJP ministers out of his ministry as they had stopped attending office.

"This situation cannot continue. Ministers are meant to work. Such a situation is not acceptable," he said, adding he had called for a special session of the assembly Wednesday to prove his majority.

The JD-U has 118 seats in the 243-member assembly, only four short of majority, while the BJP has 91 members. There are six independents in the assembly while the Congress has four members.

The BJP has accused the JD-U of trying to poach its legislators.