Patna:
The Bihar BJP has been told by the party leadership to make things work with ally and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, but they are clearly yet to get over his public attack on Narendra Modi a few weeks ago.
Fans of the Gujarat chief minster have zealously been putting up Modi posters in every district headquarter that Mr Kumar visits during his sewa yatra, a tour of Bihar districts.
These posters salute Mr Modi as the next Prime Minister and are clearly meant to bait Mr Kumar, who has handed the BJP an ultimatum recently that his party, the Janata Dal (United), will only support a secular leader to be the presumptive PM of the NDA, the national alliance that both are a part of. That cancels Mr Modi out for the JD(U), which accuses him of not doing enough to prevent the death of over a 1000 Muslims during the communal riots in Gujarat in 2002.
The posters were there in Gopalganj last week and have now surfaced in Gaya during the Bihar Chief Minister's visit. They hail Mr Modi as the choice of the common man and declare that the next government at the Centre will be formed under his leadership.
The posters are published by an outfit called the Narendra Modi Vichar Manch, which is run by some BJP workers. Bihar BJP president Mangal Pandey said he cannot stop workers from putting up posters "in a democracy." The workers, he said, have the right to express themselves.
The JD(U), which is the senior partner in the Bihar government, has shrugged them off. "If the BJP can make any one Prime Minister or Chief Minister by putting up posters, then they should do this in every state and every election," said a JD(U) leader.
Fans of the Gujarat chief minster have zealously been putting up Modi posters in every district headquarter that Mr Kumar visits during his sewa yatra, a tour of Bihar districts.
These posters salute Mr Modi as the next Prime Minister and are clearly meant to bait Mr Kumar, who has handed the BJP an ultimatum recently that his party, the Janata Dal (United), will only support a secular leader to be the presumptive PM of the NDA, the national alliance that both are a part of. That cancels Mr Modi out for the JD(U), which accuses him of not doing enough to prevent the death of over a 1000 Muslims during the communal riots in Gujarat in 2002.
The posters were there in Gopalganj last week and have now surfaced in Gaya during the Bihar Chief Minister's visit. They hail Mr Modi as the choice of the common man and declare that the next government at the Centre will be formed under his leadership.
The posters are published by an outfit called the Narendra Modi Vichar Manch, which is run by some BJP workers. Bihar BJP president Mangal Pandey said he cannot stop workers from putting up posters "in a democracy." The workers, he said, have the right to express themselves.
The JD(U), which is the senior partner in the Bihar government, has shrugged them off. "If the BJP can make any one Prime Minister or Chief Minister by putting up posters, then they should do this in every state and every election," said a JD(U) leader.
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