Patna: Will Nitish Kumar do a Naveen Patnaik on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)? That's the big question after Nitish Kumar and Narendra Modi clashed over an ad came to a head.
On Saturday, the Bihar Chief Minister made his displeasure known over an advertisement showing BJP mascot Narendra Modi and Nitish together, he even cancelled a dinner for the BJP leaders.
On Sunday, Narendra Modi hit back with his images being published all over the Patna dailies in a fresh ad blitzkrieg. While Modi was largely silent on Nitish, in an indirect attack on the Chief Minister, he credited Bihar's development to deputy Chief Minister, the BJP's Sushil Modi. (
Read: Nitish-Modi ad row)
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi spoke for the first time after the ad fiasco on Sunday. Addressing the BJP's swabhiman rally in Patna Modi praised the people of Bihar. (
Read: Narendra Modi challenges Nitish on home turf)
Modi, who has come to Bihar for the first time since 2001, said, "People of Bihar have contributed to Gujarat's progress." He added, "I have come here to salute the people of Bihar."
Amid the rising political temperature in Patna, Modi found time to attack his political foe Sonia Gandhi. Dragging Sonia in the Bhopal controversy Modi asked, "Sonia should say who was the
maut ka saudagar in Bhopal?"
Earlier, BJP president Nitin Gadkari also attacked Nitish Kumar over the ad row.
In what is being seen as a rebuttal to Nitish, the BJP president said in Patna on Sunday, "We will follow coalition
dharma but with self respect. He also told partymen to not speak out of turn and let the spokesmen do the job. (
Read: No compromise on self-respect, BJP tells JDU)
In the midst of a standoff involving Chief Ministers Nitish Kumar and Narendra Modi, the BJP on Sunday sent a clear message to ally JD (U) that it was acting with "maturity" by taking "all along" but would not compromise on self-respect.
"We are a mature party which has a mature leadership with resilience.... We are showing maturity. For us, our self-respect is most important. We are not going to compromise on our self-respect," party spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.
However, soft-pedalling the controversy over the advertisement, senior BJP leader L K Advani said "small problems" do occur in an alliance while JD (U) chief Sharad Yadav asserted that the "unpleasant" incident has been left behind. (
Read: Advani downplays ad issue, reaches out to Nitish)
Nitish Kumar had also criticised the Gujarat Government's claim that it had liberally donated aid to Bihar during the 2008 Kosi floods in another newspaper advertisement, calling it "uncivilised".
Defending Modi on the advertisement issue, Rudy said, "He is a leader and a successful chief minister and the way he is running the state is being hailed by his supporters and some overzealous among them have made efforts to widen his appeal by showing what is the truth."
There has been tension between the BJP and the Janata Dal United (JDU) after the controversial advertisement showing Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Narendra Modi. (
Read: Trouble for BJP-JDU alliance)
It may be recalled that in the previous state polls and the Lok Sabha elections, Nitish Kumar had not allowed Modi to campaign in Bihar.
Meanwhile, the head of the advertising agency in Patna that released the ad had earlier told NDTV that Surat BJP MP CR Patil cleared the ad.
"The final artwork was sent by Mr C R Patil, the Member of Parliament from Surat and it was sent to the newspapers around 5 pm. If there was anything objectionable, the newspaper could have stopped its release," said Arindam Guha, director of the ad agency.