JD-U may dump BJP if it insists on Hindutva

The BJP’s move to revive the temple agenda may cast a shadow on the JD(U)’s two-day national executive meeting in Ranchi tomorrow....

The BJP’s move to revive the temple agenda may cast a shadow on the JD(U)’s two-day national executive meeting in Ranchi tomorrow. Well placed sources indicated today that a powerful section of the party was keen on breaking ties with the BJP ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls in February.

The JD(U) national executive meeting was preceded by a three-day workers’ convention at Nalanda where a majority of workers ‘‘expressed serious misgivings’’ about tying up with the BJP if it returns to a Hindutva agenda. BJP president L.K. Advani’s speech at the party’s national council meeting yesterday, where he once again raised the Ayodhya issue, has only added to misgivings.

Even before Advani’s speech, the JD(U) was divided over continuing ties with the BJP. In its last national executive meeting in Delhi this July, the JD(U) had passed a resolution, reiterating its ‘‘secular’’ credentials and several party members had questioned the continuation of ties with the BJP, following its adoption of the ‘‘back to basics’’ theme.

Story continues below this ad

According to sources, both Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav are keen to dump the BJP and join hands with the ‘‘anti-Laloo secular forces’’ in Bihar. But they are caught in a bind because the ‘‘secular forces’’ remain aligned to Laloo Yadav.

In other words, the ‘‘secular stream’’ in the JD(U) can only succeed in breaking ties with the BJP if the Congress and the Left were to abandon the RJD. ‘‘The JD(U) in Bihar is opposed only to Laloo Prasad Yadav. We have never been opposed to Sonia Gandhi or the Congress and we are keen to uphold the secular fabric of the country,’’ a JD(U) leader said.

Barring George Fernandes, who has developed close ties with the BJP leadership, most other JD(U) leaders prefer the Congress, sources said.

Apart from their ‘‘socialist and secular’’ moorings, the main reason for this is that going with the BJP ensures that the crucial Muslim and Dalit votes consolidate behind Laloo’s RJD. Therefore, the JD(U) is hoping that the state Congress unit will pressurise the party’s central leadership not to be part of a Laloo-led alliance in the Assembly elections, sources said.

Story continues below this ad

That might seem like wishful thinking, given that the RJD is the second-largest party in the UPA Government, and the Railway Minister shares a good rapport with Sonia Gandhi. But the anti-BJP contingent in the JD(U) is not giving up hope. After all, they point out, Laloo gave the Congress only four seats in the LS polls.

It is in the long-term interest of the Congress to break ties with the RJD and be part of an anti-Laloo secular combine — something that state-level leaders understand only too well.

While the JD(U) is unlikely to make any open overtures to the Congress just yet, the Ranchi meeting is likely to see an escalation in the anti-BJP rhetoric and set the stage for a ‘‘realignment of forces’’ in the run-up to the February polls, sources said.