A day after he invited Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi to campaign in Bihar, BJP general secretary and party’s in-charge of the state, Mr Ananth Kumar, was pulled up by the party’s top leadership, including BJP chief Nitin Gadkari.
The party, which was making cautious statements on the issue after the recent spat between Bihar chief minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar and Mr Modi, was left in a dilemma after Mr Kumar “unilaterally” invited Mr Modi to campaign in Bihar.
Sources disclosed Mr Gadkari as well as BJP parliamentary party chairman L.K. Advani called up Mr Kumar to express their anguish. These leaders, it was learnt, told Mr Kumar that his statement might revive the clash between the BJP and JD(U). Mr Kumar was asked not to make any more comments on this contentious issue, sources said.
The issue of whether Mr Modi, a Hindutva icon, would be campaigning during the forthcoming Assembly election in the state still remains a bone on contention between both BJP and JD(U).
The BJP has been toeing a safe line on the issue claiming that all those leaders whom its Bihar unit will invite for campaigning, would go, including Mr Modi. The party has so far never asserted that Mr Modi would campaign during the Bihar Assembly polls.
Mr Kumar, who was in Ahmedabad on Friday, had invited Mr Modi to Bihar to campaign. “Modiji, please come to Bihar. you may campaign and hold the BJP flag high,” Mr Kumar had said at the party’s state unit executive meet.
But his statement ruffled many feathers in the BJP as well as in the JD(U). Senior JD(U) leader Shivanand Tiwari strongly reacted to Mr Kumar’s statement saying why was the BJP being adamant on calling the Gujarat chief minister to campaign.
It could be mentioned that the Bihar chief minister had snubbed the BJP last month when he cancelled a dinner hosted by him for BJP leaders after photographs of him with Mr Modi were published in local dailies.
He had also strongly objected to advertisements of the Gujarat government claiming liberal aid to the state during Kosi flood.