BJP in a state of dilemma in Bihar

Though the Bharatiya Janata Party, under the leadership of Nitin Gadkari, has launched an exercise to consolidate its position while pursuing coalition politics, it is in a state of dilemma as far as Bihar is concerned. 

The saffron part is in a fix whether to go alone or keep its alliance with the Janata Dal-United to regain power in Bihar where assembly elections are slated for October-November 2010.

Differences between BJP and JD-U on issues like governance, projection of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi as prime ministerial candidate and failure to rein in Varun Gandhi ahead of the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, are well known.

A section of the saffron party believes its presence has been overshadowed by the JD-U and particularly by Nitish Kumar. This group advocates that the party should contest the assembly elections alone, especially when there has been increase in the urban seats in the delimitation exercise. Some BJP leaders also argue that the party has no scope to grow because of JD-U's "big brother" persona in Bihar politics.

Leaders, who preferred not to be quoted, agreed that severing ties with JD-U might prove suicidal. However, they argued that if the BJP finally decides to keep its alliance, it should extract more seats from the JD-U during seat sharing.

"One thing is clear: the BJP on its own cannot mobilise Muslims, minorities and Dalits, while the JD-U cannot afford erosion of upper caste support," they said.

Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who has a good rapport with Nitish Kumar, asserted that the his party's 14 year-old alliance will continue.

"Clearly, the JD-U is in a big brother role. However, the BJP has also strengthened its position. I do not see any problem in the continuation of alliance and thereby, win the ensuing assembly polls," he said.  Former civil aviation minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, "The alliance will continue to be in place as both the parties are confident to come back to power."