Allies Test Waters Ahead Of State Polls

WHEN Sushil Modi tweeted about Nitish Kumar being the Captain of NDA in Bihar and then retweeted this on Thursday, it was clear that the Bihar deputy CM was doing his best to control the damage done by a few BJP leaders, who unilaterally, created a mini crisis of sorts by staking BJP’s claim to the leadership of the Bihar government.

A trust deficit seemed to simmer between the allies after BJP MLC Sanjay Paswan asserted that having given Nitish Kumar 15 years as CM of Bihar, it was time for the JD-U boss to reciprocate. He advised Nitish to shift to Delhi politics and leave the CM’s chair for the BJP.

As Bihar is set for Assembly polls in 2020, Paswan’s claim, no matter how preposterous seemed to find favour with a few more BJP leaders, triggering an intra-alliance storm with a section of JD-U leaders outrightly rejecting the suggestion.