New Delhi:
JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav on Wednesday refuted claims that NDA will split after Narendra Modi's elevation as poll panel chief. Rejecting claims, he said that a proper decision will be taken only after thorough discussion with the party members. He also confirmed that JD(U) is still part of NDA.
However, sources claimed that amid visible strains in NDA, JD-U, which has reservations on Narendra Modi, will soon take a decision on whether to continue its alliance with BJP or not after the elevation of the Gujarat Chief Minister as his party's campaign committee chief.
A meeting of JD-U can be called to decide the fate of the alliance any time after June 14. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will be covering Katihar in his Seva Yatra on June 13 and 14, after which a decision is likely to be announced.
Sources in the party say that parting of ways is "almost certain" as it believes that it is now only a technicality for BJP to name Modi its PM candidate, an issue on which JD-U has time and again expressed its serious reservations.
Kumar has already held the first round of consultations with party President Sharad Yadav and senior ministers of his government and the party is veering round to the view that continuing the alliance has become untenable.
"When Modi has been made campaign committee chief and the command of election has been handed over to him, will somebody else be declared the PM candidate if BJP performs well?
Now declaring Modi a PM candidate of BJP is only a technical thing," a senior leader in JD-U said. JD-U leaders in Patna had also given clear indications of their discomfiture with BJP after Kumar held consultations with them on the issue.
"Days of JD-U's ties with BJP are numbered" and a "big announcement" is expected "anytime" were the refrains of the leaders as the party also got in touch with the six independent MLAs in the state.
JD-U has 118 MLAs in 243-member Bihar assembly and needsthe support of only four more MLAs to reach the magic figure. There are 91 MLAS from BJP, 21 from RJD and one each from LJP and CPI in the state assembly.
In a clear indication of things to come, senior JD-U leader Shivanand Tewari today launched a scathing attack on Modi, terming him a "divisive personality" and ridiculing his proposal to build the proposed 'Statue of Unity' in the memory of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
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