In election-bound Bihar, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushil Kumar Modi appears to be fighting two battles at a time: one against the alliance of the Janata Dal(U), the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress and the other against his own party leaders challenging his chief ministerial ambitions.
Because of dissension in the Bihar unit of the party, the BJP’s central leadership has been reluctant to project anyone as chief ministerial candidate of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the Assembly election to be held possibly in October. Enough indications have been given that the BJP would fight the election with a “collective leadership” rather than project one leader.
Yet, Mr. Modi has been “covertly” pushing his claim, putting the party under pressure to project him as chief ministerial candidate.
On Friday, at the release of his book Beech Samar Mein (In the Midst of Battle), a recollection of his time in jail during the Emergency, here, several party leaders lauded Mr. Modi’s leadership and tried to project him as the most suitable candidate for Chief Minister.
“Sushil Modi is like a warrior, standing tall in the middle of a war, and one has to understand that the Emergency has not ended for Bihar, and Sushil Modi will win this war, too,” said senior BJP leader and Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh.
Party sources said it was Mr. Modi who got a place for Mr. Singh in the Narendra Modi Cabinet from the Bihar quota.
Union Ministers Ananth Kumar and Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister of State Ram Kripal Yadav and several BJP leaders attended the function.
“Sushil Modi is a Bihar leader with national recognition,” Mr. Ananth Kumar said, crediting him with ushering in good governance in the State when he was Deputy Chief Minister in the NDA government.
Except Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Nand Kishore Yadav and Buxar MP Ashwani Choubey, the party leaders pushed Mr. Modi as the BJP’s most suitable chief ministerial candidate.
When Mr. Modi celebrated 25 years of his parliamentary career on March 27, Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu virtually endorsed him as the chief ministerial candidate. “One Modi at the Centre and another Modi at the helm in Bihar will be good for the State and its people,” he had said.
Recently, the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, a BJP ally, projected its leader, Upendra Kushwaha, as the chief ministerial candidate. However, BJP sources told The Hindu that it was all part of Mr. Modi’s plan to pressure the party central leadership to discuss the issue before the election. He has not declared his claim yet; he has merely said the issue will be decided by the party’s Parliamentary Board at an appropriate time.
If party sources are to be believed, the main rivals for Sushil Modi are Mr. Nand Kishore Yadav and Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad and another Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
