As the countdown to the Bihar election commences, CM Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) [JD(U)] has allegedly told its ally the Bharatiya Janata Party to maintain a clear and tough stance against its arch-rival - Lok Janshakti Party leader Chirag Paswan, according to a report in The Indian Express citing sources.
Chirag Paswan has left no opportunity to chide Nitish Kumar and his party in his election campaign and has repeatedly said that the incumbent Chief Minister insulted his father, late Ram Vilas Paswan several times.
"Nitish Kumar remarked mockingly that my father could not have got elected to the Rajya Sabha without the JD(U)'s support since we had only two MLAs. He should remember that my father was promised a Rajya Sabha berth by the then BJP chief Amit Shah himself," Paswan said in an interview.
Despite Paswan Junior's "Modi se Bair Nahin, Nitish Teri Khair Nahin" (No enmity with Modi but will not spare Nitish) stance, the BJP has carefully toed the line to reiterate its alliance with JD(U) without snubbing Chirag. However, JD(U) has allegedly made it clear that the BJP will have to take a stand and not support both sides.
Chirag Paswan went on to say things such as he was Modi's Hanuman and the PM was his idol, swearing allegiance to Modi and reaffirming that the LJP will remain part of the NDA at the centre.
BJP leaders deliberately have been snubbing the young Chirag and announcing joint rallies of Nitish Kumar with PM Modi to not only maintain a clear front with the alliance but also to silence those within the BJP who may be quietly in support of the LJP leader, the report said.
“In the BJP, there is a section that does not like Nitish Kumar and they wanted to belittle him. That boy (Chirag) was created by this section. But then they realised that when the water gets into the boat, the entire boat drowns,” one of the JD(U) sources told the publication, indicating that this was why no “separate” BJP or JD (U) rallies would be held in the state except under the NDA umbrella.
The war of words between the BJP and LJP got louder after Bhupendra Yadav critisiced the LJP leader's remarks against Nitish as unfortunate and Union Minister Prakash Javadekar called him a "vote katua".
“If I am a vote-cutter, why have they (BJP leaders) aligned with us since 2014?” Chirag asked on Saturday, adding that the unsavoury statements issued by the BJP leaders for the last few days were being made at the behest of Nitish Kumar.
"The CM is anxious to portray a distance and wedge between LJP and BJP. I'd like to allay this fear by saying that I welcome criticism from BJP leaders, even from PM," Chirag said on Sunday.