The Hindu : National : BJP to take final decision on Sushil Modi on June 8

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BJP to take final decision on Sushil Modi on June 8

Neena Vyas

All BJP legislators in Bihar will be asked to present their view

Sushil Modi

NEW DELHI: A final decision by the BJP leadership on the fate of its Bihar leader and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi will be taken on June 8 when each party MLA and MLC in the State will be asked for his view.

After two rounds of consultations here on Wednesday — first round at the residence of BJP president Rajnath Singh and the second at the home of Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani — the party leadership decided to ascertain the views of all MLAs and MLCs before deciding the fate of Mr. Modi.

The understanding was that the decision would be taken by the party leaders in keeping with the wishes of its State legislators.

The party leadership has asked senior leaders Venkaiah Naidu and Sushma Swaraj to be observers for the June 8 meeting of MLAs and MLCs to be held here. The legislators are expected to be asked whether they are in favour of allowing Mr. Modi to continue in his position as the most senior party leader and Deputy Chief Minister or would prefer that he be replaced. The two leaders in the running are Nand Kishore Yadav and Ashwini Chaubey.

Party leaders told reporters that a “physical verification” will be done on what each MLA wants. The crisis arose as Mr. Modi, reportedly, refused to resign from his position, and no consensus could emerge as dissidents maintained their claim that Mr. Modi no longer enjoyed the confidence of the State unit. Mr. Modi, however, maintained that he still enjoyed the confidence of the majority of legislators.

The leadership is here more worried by the perception that the BJP’s support base has eroded in Bihar over the last few years, especially since it came to power along with the Janata Dal (United). The dissidents have been blaming Mr. Modi for this state of affairs.

Mr. Naidu, Ms. Swaraj, the Bihar affairs in-charge Kalraj Mishra, organisation general secretary Ramlal were at the residences of Mr. Rajnath Singh and Mr. Advani when the senior leaders met Mr. Modi, Mr. Yadav, Mr. Chaubey and the Bihar unit president Radha Mohan Singh.

Nearly a month ago Mr. Mishra had submitted a report to the party leadership signalling that about 30 to 35 of a total of 55 BJP MLAs in Bihar were against Mr. Modi continuing in his present position.

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