JD(U) asks ally BJP to rein in its Bihar motormouths

The JD(U) on Thursday asked its Bihar ally the BJP to act against its leaders violating the "coalition dharma", a day after BJP MLC Sanjay Paswan pitched for a chief minister from his party to replace Nitish Kumar.

JD(U) spokesman Rajiv Ranjan Prasad said deterrent action would have followed had a leader from his party made such a statement.

The state unit of the BJP distanced itself from the views expressed by Paswan, a former Union minister.

"The people of Bihar now want to see a BJP leader as the chief minister... We are in a position to form a government in the state on our own, though we shall abide by whatever decision Narendra Modi and Sushil Modi (Deputy CM and BJP leader) take," Paswan had told reporters on Wednesday.

The BJP quickly went into damage control, insisting Paswan's view was his own and not the party's official stand.

"Had a member of the JD(U) been guilty of repeatedly violating coalition dharma in this manner, he would have faced the consequences for sure. I hope the BJP takes note of leaders who keep shooting their mouths off despite Amit Shah's intervention and act against them," Prasad said in a statement.

Shah, the party president and Union home minister, has said in more than a couple of TV interviews in the recent past that Kumar, serving his third consecutive term as the chief minister, will be the NDA's face in the assembly polls.

Paswan, a dalit leader, had raised the JD(U)'s hackles a few months ago, too, when he demanded that Nitish Kumar be replaced as chief minister by a BJP leader.

"Sanjay Paswan is a senior and respected leader of our party. He may have said something in his personal capacity. It is not the party's official stand," BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand said.