BJP on notice over Modi

Nitish wants PM who unites, not divides, country

• We cannot give up secularism to stay in power
• Prefers Advani over ModiA
• Gives December deadline to name PM candidateA
• Recalls Vajpayee's advise to Modi to follow Raj Dharma
• Says he has no illusions to become PM
• Sharad Yadav plays down the controversy
• Rajnath Singh: Parliamentary Board will decide BJP's PM candidate

Anita SalujaA New Delhi: Battlelines were clearly drawn in the NDA, as JD (U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday put the BJP on notice. A At stake is the time-tested JD (U)-BJP alliance, following Nitish Kumar's opposition to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi emerging as BJP prime ministerial candidate. JD(U) leaders preferred L K Advani as prime ministerial candidate over Modi.A The NDA was a picture of a divided house, as Nitish Kumar's bottomline was that if Modi emerges as the BJP prime ministerial face, then the JD (U) would part ways with the BJP and that there could be no compromise on the core ideology of secularism. "We have some fundamental principles on which we cannot compromise. We cannot give up on secularism to stay in power," declared Nitish Kumar. In a 40-minute fiery speech at the Janata Dal (United) National Council in the capital, Nitish Kumar said, "We want a Prime Minister, who will unite, and not divide, the country." Citing the example of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Nitish Kumar said, "only one, who can carry with him all the diverse sections of people can become the leader of the nation." This was the personality of Vajpayee. If there was any attempt to change the path, there could be problems, he said. Nitish recalled that Vajpayee had advised Modi to follow the Raj Dharma.According to sources, the JD (U), which runs a coalition government with the BJP in Bihar, has done the number crunching. If push comes to shove and it has to break its alliance, Nitish Kumar Government can survive in office. Giving a long rope to the BJP, the Political Resolution adopted at JD (U) National Council meeting, gave the BJP time till the end of the year to take the call on the BJP prime ministerial candidate. It laid down the criterion that the prime ministerial candidate should have secular image.Nitish made it clear that he harboured no illusions about becoming Prime Minister, going by the bitter experiences of Chandra Shekhar, H D Deve Gowda and I K Gujral in the past. The JD (U), he said, had entered into an alliance with the BJP, when most parties were wary of joining hands with the saffron party. The NDA was formed on the basis of the National Agenda of Governance, which put on the backburner the contentious issues like the Abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution that provides special status to Jammu & Kashmir; demand for Uniform Civil Code; and the call to build a grand Hindu temple at the site of the razed Babri mosque in Ayodhya. Insisting that the JD (U) wants to continue the alliance with the BJP, Nitish Kumar said if there was deviation from the laid out path, the party would be forced to rethink. Sharad Yadav, who was re-elected for a third time party president at the JD (U) National Executive over the weekend, assumed charge at the JD (U) National Council meeting on Sunday. He played down the controversy saying, "our alliance with the BJP is very old and we do not want to break it. We want to continue this alliance. Difference between the BJP and the JD (U) is being projected by the media." Reacting to Nitish Kumar's conditions, BJP president Rajnath Singh said the party's parliamentary board would select the prime ministerial candidate. However, in the parliamentary board not many are supporters of Modi. Party leader Kalraj Mishra hit bach saying that JD (U) cannot set terms to the BJP. Late in the evening, the BJP hit back, rejecting all inferences against Narendra Modi. BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said, "The need of the hour is to defeat the non-performing and corrupt UPA. The Congress-led UPA government is leading this country on a downslide in every field. We reject all unfounded inferences against Narendra Modi."

Nitish's dig at Modi Directly targeting Modi, Nitish Kumar said, "If someone offers a cap, you must wear it and sometimes even apply the tikka." This was a reference to the Muslim skull cap, which Modi refused to wear, when it was offered to him by a Muslim cleric. No one could forge ahead merely by creating a wave. "People may be less educated but they are endowed with robust commonsense. An already developed state is being projected as a developing state. If, in spite of development, malnutrition persists and drinking water is not available, what kind of development is that," asked Nitish. He contrasted Gujarat model of development with Bihar model, where equal focus was given to both infrastructure development and human development. No one state can provide the model of development to all other states, he asserted, rubbishing Modi's claim that Gujarat model is worthy of replication everywhere else.