Patna:
Nitish Kumar has returned Shatrughan Sinha's compliment, praising the Bharatiya Janata Party leader today for his "healthy" and "independent" views. That is a reference to Mr Sinha's endorsement of the Bihar Chief Minister as a potential Prime Minister.
Mr Sinha's comments last week had earned him much rebuke from his party colleagues. Mr Kumar said today, "Shatrughan Sinha never said he would like to join Janata Dal United... I respect him, he's loyal to his party. He's known for his outspoken independent views."
The plaudits in Patna are only likely to alienate Mr Sinha further within his party. His colleagues in Bihar have suggested that the BJP take disciplinary action against the actor-turned-politician. Senior Bihar BJP leader CP Thakur has promised that no one will stop Mr Sinha if he decides to quit the party.
Mr Sinha, while praising Nitish Kumar, had also described him as a nice human being and a man of principles. "He is a mature politician and a good man," he had said. Shatrughan Sinha is the BJP MP from Patna Sahib.
Mr Kumar is not the BJP's most favourite person ever since he evicted the party from the Bihar government after calling off a 17-year partnership. He broke off from the BJP because the latter picked Narendra Modi as election campaign chief, which Mr Kumar read as a signal that the Gujarat Chief Minister would also be picked as the BJP's candidate for prime minister in 2014.
He is expected to be proven right in September when, BJP sources say, Mr Modi shall be declared the face of the party in time to appropriate Mr Modi's popularity to its advantage in Assembly elections in five important states. The decision has reportedly been approved by the BJP's powerful ideological mentor, the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh).
Shatrughan Sinha, within the BJP, is considered to be a part of a guild headed by veteran LK Advani and opposed to the ascension of Mr Modi. After his controversial praise of Mr Kumar, he said, "I have given all my statements in favour of party. I have been in BJP from a long time. I'm not worried, I have not said anything wrong."