Nitish Kumar's Third Front talk triggers panic in BJP

Saffron party not willing to lose its biggest ally without a fight

For the second day in a row, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal -United (JD-U) leader Nitish Kumar kept the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders on their toes. Kumar also hinted that he, along with his West Bengal and Odisha counterparts, might form a new political front in the coming days.

However, the BJP is not ready to lose its biggest ally without a fight. Senior BJP leaders L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, as well as party president Rajnath Singh, spoke to Kumar on the phone and tried to allay his fears. However, Kumar reportedly asked the saffron party to announce that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will not be the prime ministerial candidate of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) but BJP leaders were not ready for this. According to JD-U sources, the Bihar CM refused to give them any reassurances about salvaging the already fragile partnership.

Later, before departing for Katihar district, Kumar told reporters in Patna: “L K Advani discussed some issues and said some things. We will discuss them in our meeting. We will take cognizance of these things. We will discuss all issues." He added that his party was concerned about recent developments in the NDA.

Kumar also hinted that JD-U might soon join hands with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Biju Janta Dal. "I have spoken to (West Bengal CM and TMC leader ) Mamata Banerjee on phone. She stated her views about the common problems of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha and we should come together. I also think that these problems are common. If all of us understand these problems and come together, it will be good. However, this idea is still at an initial stage. Therefore, one should not speculate about a political front." On Wednesday, JD-U had sent its MP K C Tyagi to Kolkata to talk to Banerjee. Kumar is also said to be in touch with Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik.

However, with a possible break-up looming large over the NDA, Kumar has cancelled all of his engagements for the weekend. He has also cut short his Sewa Yatra in Katihar, where Kumar was earlier expected to stay for a night. He returned to Patna this evening. He has also called for a meeting of all MLAs and MPs of the party on Saturday, which is expected to be presided over by party president Sharad Yadav, who is expected to arrive in the state capital by Friday evening.

Meanwhile, there were reports that some party leaders are also in touch with Congress leaders and urged them to ask its four MLAs to abstain from voting.

The state BJP unit has also sprung into action. The Bihar BJP is now trying to hold on to as many independent MLAs as possible in case of a split. Of the six independent MLAs, two -- Pawan Jaiswal and Vinay Bihari -- have already vouched to back JD-U, which has 118 MLAs in the 243-member Bihar Assembly.

Meanwhile, three others -- Dular Chand, Som Prakash Singh and Jyoti Rashmi -- are yet to choose sides. The sixth independent MLA, Dileep Verma, has decided to go with the BJP, which is trying to break some of the unsatisfied JD-U leaders.

Even as a break-up seems imminent, neither the JD-U nor the BJP wants to be seen as the one who breaks the alliance. They fear that it will be an election issue and the one responsible will lose votes.

Both parties want to put the blame on each other. The political realignment was triggered by the elevation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as BJP election chief, giving rise to speculations that he might be the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate in next year's general election.