Question Nitish may be [should be] asking these days: how poachable has BJP become?
Sanjay Jha& Nitish: flagrantly gleeful!
Patna: a number of reports since the morning yesterday highlighted the political excitement of the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar inducting a key leader from BJP into Janata Dal-United in Bihar. Former MLC Sanjay Jha, considered to be close to BJP leader of the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, joined JD-U in the presence of Nitish, state party president Vashishtha Narayan Singh and a host of ministers at 1, Aney Marg, the chief minister’s residence in Patna on Tuesday.
For a variety of reasons, unlike other parties, the BJP has had a history of loyalty that could be traced to its RSS ethos – induction in early childhood at the shakhas, which hardwires its members forever. But this citadel is now crumbling within, it would seem, starting from Gujarat. The crack in the BJP soul may now lead to tentative tremors, if not splits within the RSS too – a first time in Indian history. The Left and the extreme Left have seen many such moments in the past decades. Now its time for the Right to experience the family division jitters. All this is very speculative yet, but we seem to be entering an exciting phase in Indian politics when speculation seems permissible, as long as it is not plied as hypotheses or pretense of having ‘insider information’. Press clubs all over India must indeed be humming with unlikely stories and theories, but as they say, what else to do!
Sample the statements given to the press:
“I have joined JD-U because of the policies of Nitish Kumar,” Jha said, adding “I have had the privilege of working with him closely.”
Jha insisted that his decision would not make any difference to the ruling National Democratic Alliance government in Bihar. “I am still in NDA and I will continue working for strengthening the alliance in the state and elsewhere.”
Jha, who was considered a troubleshooter within the NDA because of his proximity to senior leaders in both the parties, claimed that he had duly informed BJP senior leaders about his decision to join JD-U. “I met the senior leaders and informed them before joining JD-U,” he added.
Jha stated that he had the same regard for all the leaders and workers of the BJP that he has had over the years. Denying that he had joined JD-U to get the party’s ticket from one of the North Bihar constituencies in the 2014 parliamentary elections, he said the elections were still two years away. Jha’s decision evoked protests from the BJP workers in the state. Senior party leader Rameshwar Chaurasia said that some people always aspired for getting close to the people in power. “Jha happens to be one of them,” he said.
Jha’s move was considered quite likely in the NDA circles for long. Last month, he had declined to accept the BJP offer for the second term as an MLC. This had fuelled speculations that he was contemplating switching sides. Jha was made a BJP MLC in 2006 after Nitish became the chief minister.
A senior BJP leader, wishing anonymity, said that Jha might have been a BJP legislator but he was closer to the chief minister than any leader from his own party. “I am not at all surprised at his decision,” he said, adding “He should have done it earlier.”
The above description could fit some other vitally major and even bell weather leaders from Bihar BJP too. The question is ‘how many of them?’