Nitish cancels dinner after Modi ad

he BJP’s controversial Hindutva icon, the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, on Saturday sent ripples across Bihar’s political spectrum without speaking a word and brought the BJP and the JD(U) on an unexpected collision course.

A full-page advertisement published in some Bihar newspapers on the first day of the BJP’s national executive meet showing Mr Modi and the Bihar Chief Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, of the JD(U) raising joined hands and smiling angered Mr Kumar, prompting him to threaten legal action against those behind the advertisement carrying the year-old photo of the two leaders.

Mr Kumar also cancelled the dinner at his residence to which he had invited the BJP leaders attending the party’s conclave, causing embarrassment to the BJP and casting a shadow on the future of the shaky JD(U)-BJP alliance in view of Bihar’s Assembly polls, due in November.

Even as top BJP leaders from across the country were busy discussing the party’s national strategy and showering praise on Bihar’s JD(U)-BJP government at Patna’s Hotel Maurya, the chief minister expressed his deep discontent with the BJP for the advertisements. Mr Kumar’s words signified that Mr Modi remained an anathema for the JD(U).

“These advertisements were published without my knowledge and permission. We will explore all appropriate legal action against this act,” Mr Kumar said at Hotel Chanakya during a lunch he had organised for journalists. “I would not have objected if the photo would have been published in a news report in the newspapers,” he added.

He also strongly protested the praise in the advertisements for the Gujarat government for providing hefty aid to Bihar during the Kosi flood tragedy of 2008. “Seeking credit for the help we do to others in need is not in our culture. We would like to repay them if they want,” said a depressed-looking Mr Kumar, who had been instrumental in preventing Mr Modi from campaigning in Bihar during the last Lok Sabha polls.

The advertisements, which apparently carried a Modi-Nitish photo taken during the NDA’s Ludhiana rally in May 2009, did not carry the BJP’s name, electoral symbol or the name of any BJP leader, though the names of several little known people were published as those who brought them out.

But speculation was rife in Patna’s political circles that it was the BJP that was behind these advertisements so as to accord greater legitimacy to Mr Modi in Bihar and to mount indirect pressure on the JD(U), the senior partner in Bihar’s NDA coalition government.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav was quick to attack Mr Kumar and the JD(U), saying both stood exposed by the advertisements. “If Nitish Kumar still has any honesty and integrity, he must ditch the BJP or merge his party with the BJP. He is cheating Bihar’s Muslims by a fake show of secularism,” said Mr Lalu Yadav. Bihar Congress president Mehboob Ali Kaiser echoed Mr Lalu Yadav’s views and asked Mr Kumar to come clean on the advertisements.

In his cagey response, senior BJP leader and spokesman Syed Shahnawaz Hussain clarified that the advertisements had nothing to do with the BJP and were published by an “enthusiastic supporter of the party”. He also said the Gujarat government had nothing to do with the advertisements.

On Mr Kumar cancelling the dinner for BJP leaders, Mr Hussain said: “The BJP is discussing crucial issues of national importance and is not interested in food at this time.”