Modi asks Rajnath to speak to Nitish for alliance: Sources

As the Bihar Chief Minister remains firm on breaking ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Bihar NDA convenor Nand Kishore Yadav and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi have reportedly refused to meet Nitish Kumar.

The Bihar Chief Minister had called a meeting with the BJP leaders on Saturday to discuss the JD(U)-BJP ties.

Also read: JD(U) hints at alliance with Cong after splitting from BJP

Meanwhile, sources on Saturday said that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has asked BJP President Rajnath Singh to make serious attempts to reach out to Nitish Kumar.

The BJP has suggested to the JD(U) that it should not break the alliance and should wait till the NDA announces its PM candidate, top BJP sources told CNN-IBN.

The sources also said that Rajnath Singh has reached out to JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav and has asked him to convince Nitish Kumar to change his stand. But Nitish Kumar has reportedly already informed the BJP President about calling off the alliance.
 
But Sharad Yadav might make another effort to convince Nitish Kumar. He is likely to meet the Bihar Chief Minister on Saturday evening to decide the fate of their party's alliance with the BJP.

The split between the BJP and the JD(U) was precipitated after the former elevated Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its 2014 campaign incharge at its recently-concluded National Executive meet in Goa.

"The BJP was always aware of our stand on Narendra Modi. Despite this, they elevated Modi, thus leaving us with no option. We feel that the BJP has taken this step deliberately in order to separate us from the alliance.

Our government is not under threat if the BJP decides to leave, given this we have no reason to break this alliance," JD(U) leader Shivanand Tiwari said on Saturday.

"It is a very difficult situation and there doesn't seem to be a solution," said Bihar JD(U) president Vashisht Narayan Singh.

The JD(U) has openly voiced its opposition to Modi for his alleged failure to protect Muslims during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

After BJP patriarch LK Advani resigned in protest against Modi's promotion, the JD(U) said the alliance was on ventilator support. The Congress, too, added fuel to the fire by saying its doors were open to "secular parties".

Meanwhile, Nitish Kumar confirmed on Friday that the ties between his party and the BJP were not good. "The circumstances are difficult, and in this difficult situation what we have to do, we have to decide. On one hand, people are suggesting to continue with the alliance since it is an old alliance. On the other hand, the circumstances are difficult," he said.

He also did not restrain himself from taking a dig at the BJP either. "Someone has rightly said, they pray for our life and yet supply us with poison," he remarked.
Nitish Kumar's JD(U) is in power in Bihar as part of a coalition government with the BJP.

Ever since the fallout, Nitish has been searching for allies and independent MLAs to boost his strength within the Bihar Assembly. He needs four supporters to reach the majority mark in the Assembly. On Friday, an independent MLA claimed that he had been approached by the party.

"There is a possibility that the JD(U) will split with the BJP in Bihar over Narendra Modi's recent elevation in the party. They called me about joining the party and said that I would get the ministry of my choice and then I will get the party's MP ticket," MLA Dilip Verma said.

Nitish Kumar has also been in talks with other regional leaders like West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik for a Third Front which, for a long time, has been the clarion call of parties opposed to the Congress and the BJP.