New Delhi:
It may not be a honeymoon yet, but the BJP and the JD(U) are making overt efforts to show domestic harmony. So a week that began with hectic discussions in the BJP to stay or not to stay with its Bihar partner, is ending with the leaders of the two parties taking off together in a chopper for the last leg of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Vishwas Yatra.
"We are going on the Vishwas yatra together today," said the Bihar CM before leaving for the yatra.
With elections due soon, the yatra
is a series of meetings Nitish is holding in the interiors of the state to review development programmes in the last five years of his rule. Nitish is credited with turning around the state's fortunes considerably and the alliance will look to playing on that in the elections.
But at the height of their ugly face-off this week, his deputy CM Sushil Modi, a senior BJP man, had said he would not accompany Nitish on the yatra.
The 15-year association of the two NDA partners has been severely tested by the incompatibility of their star Chief Ministers, JD-U's Nitish in Bihar and the BJP's Narendra Modi in Gujarat. Nitish, who has carefully cultivated a secular image and has made inroads into Bihar's significant Muslim vote, has repeatedly avoided being seen with Modi, who has a decidedly non-secular image.
This time, Nitish showed his disapproval at Modi being in Bihar to attend his party's executive meet and made much of avoiding his Gujarat counterpart. Then, he was livid at an ad on Gujarat aid to victims of the Kosi floods and promptly returned the money.
Narendra Modi, not one to be slighted, brought pressure upon his own party to take a tough stand on Nitish. Some Bihar BJP leaders were also in favour of giving Nitish a jolt, but senior party leaders thought it prudent not to rock the alliance so close to elections.
The BJP did a tightrope walk, sending out the message to Nitish that his condition that Narendra Modi and young BJP leader Varun Gandhi would not campaign in the Bihar elections was untenable. But leaders also indicated that they were in no mood to break the alliance just yet.
The JD(U) responded in a similar manner and a truce of sorts has been in place for the last couple of days. Nitish and Sushil Modi's joint appearance today shows the effort being made. Will it repair the relationship?