BJP to stay out of Bihar crisis

The Delhi defeat appears to have prompted the BJP to change course in Bihar.

Top party and government functionaries indicate the party has decided to retreat from its earlier aggressive mode and watch the unfolding political crisis in Bihar from “a safe distance”.

Though Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi is claiming otherwise, an internal report of the Home Ministry has suggested that JD-U leader Nitish Kumar “has the numbers” to stake claim to the top post and there should be “no Constitutional impropriety” while dealing with the situation, government sources indicate.

As per top party functionaries, the BJP does not want to be seen meddling in the JD-U’s internal tussle for power and working in collusion with Manjhi, who has refused to resign from the post despite being expelled from the JD-U.

The BJP does not want to be seen as the cause for the fall of the government or present friend-turned-foe Nitish with a chance to project himself as “a martyr and victim of political conspiracy generated by the saffron party”.

“Nitish has also apologised to the people for making Manjhi the CM. We have already seen the effect of Kejriwal’s apology. If Manjhi wants our support, he has to show us numbers before the floor test,” a BJP leader has been quoted by a daily from Delhi.