Bihar BJP accuses Nitish of provoking splits

The Bihar unit of the BJP on Monday blamed the JD(U) for engineering splits and initiating poaching to save its own 'minority government, and warned that there would be a vertical split in the JD(U) the day chief minister Nitish Kumar expands his council of ministers.

Bahartiya Janata Party state chief Mangal Pandey, who was questioned over the rumours of four other legislators about to break ranks said, “Around 25 JD(U) MLAs, who are directly in touch with me, will cross over to our party.”

Pandey was also reacting to media questions on Monday on agriculture minister Narendra Singh's assertion that quite a substantial number of BJP legislators were in a mood to join the JD(U).

"From the day the JD(U) separated from the NDA, Nitish Kumar has been trying to allure BJP MLAs promising them ministerial births and offering other temptations. “However, barring one, the CM could not succeed in his mission,” he said.

Referring to Amarnath Gami, whom the BJP leadership suspended for anti-party activities on Sunday, Pandey said he was the only legislator who was trapped in the Nitish net.

About the talk of two other legislators Vijay Kumar Mishra and Gangeshwar Singh about to quit the BJP, Pandey said, "They are hard core members of the party and would never think of quitting the party", Pandey said.

Mishra and Rana had objected to the outright suspension of Gami, an RSS loyalist, without giving him a chance to explain his position. Party leader Rameshwar Chourasia had also advised, that the issue, why Gami should opt to quit, should be examined.

The BJP chief said the chief minister was so apprehensive about the imminent split in his own party that he was not expanding his council of ministers. “It is for the first time in the history of independent Bihar that the chief minister has been keeping 18 departments with him for over one month,” Pandey said.

It has become a common knowledge that since the split in the NDA, both the erstwhile partners of the alliance are eyeing each other's MLAS. “They are consistently approaching soft targets in either party, promising them tickets for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections,” said a BJP leader, adding the JD(U) was particularly eying some of the MLAs including Gangeshwar Singh and Veena Devi, who were absent during a meeting called by the BJP just before the no-confidence motion brought against the chief minister.

Party leader Sushil Kumar Modi said, "There could be more desertions from the BJP. This is a T20 match. If JDU takes away some, we will take double that", Modi said, adding, "This minority government is deseperate to last its term".

Pandey also said that the BJP would launch rallies at all district headquarters to highlight the misdeeds of the JD(U) government. To begin with, a rally would be organized at Biharsharif in Nalanda, the chief ministers own turf, on July 25.

As many as 15 senior leaders including Sushil Kumar Modi, Nand Kishore Yadav and Ashwini Kumar Choubey would participate in the rally, he said.