'BJP's alliance with trusted NDA partner JD-U strong'

Amid reports that the UPA government is reaching out to JD-U through a special financial package to Bihar, BJP today said its alliance with the "trusted" NDA partner is strong and they will together ride to power in the next general elections.
"The Manmohan Singh government is tottering and is on the verge of a total collapse. Whatever efforts it may make, I don't think it is going to survive for long," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy told reporters here.
Asked if BJP fears Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar may walk out of the NDA due to overtures from the Congress, Rudy said the issue does not arise.

"In Bihar, there is a strong BJP-JD(U) government. We are preparing for the Lok Sabha elections... Irrespective of what the Central government thinks, Bihar deserves (financial) support and it should not be based on politics," he said.
Kumar has kept the BJP on the edge about his plans for the 2014 polls.
With a growing clamour within BJP for making Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi the Prime Ministerial candidate, doubts are being raised about whether JD-U will stay in the NDA fold. Kumar has made known to the BJP his reservations about Modi being the PM candidate.

Kumar had also pledged at a rally held in the national capital recently that he will support whoever meets his demand for declaring Bihar as "backward" and gives a special package.

Against this backdrop, the Centre has indicated that it may give a special package for Bihar after granting it "backward" status.
Rudy insisted that if the government has any design of weaning away JD-U it is not going to succeed. "There is no reason to suspect JD-U...We will form the next government in New Delhi and Nitish Kumar will be with us," Rudy said.
BJP expressed its ire over use of the term "backward" for Bihar by the Centre but maintained that the state needs a package as it is "deprived" of resources.