JD(U), BJP had almost reached breaking point 3 yrs back

The alliance had faced a huge storm triggered by Narendra Modi media advertisments in Bihar in 2010

The 17-year-old alliance between BJP and JD(U) was not lucky to survive this time three years after a huge row triggered by Narendra Modi media advertisments in Bihar pushed the NDA partners to brink of collapse.

Tensions between the BJP and the JD(U) triggered by the advertisements ahead of the Assembly elections in October 2010 may have subsided but the wounds were not healed completely.

 

As the Gujarat Chief Minister and his Bihar counterpart and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar have had a strained relationship, there was lurking fear that issus relating to Modi could again reopen old wounds.

Modi's elevation as Chairman of BJP's Election Campaign Committee for the next Lok Sabha elections and subsequent resignation of party patriarch L K Advani from key party posts put pressure on JD(U) to review its ties with the saffron party.

The advertisments were to coincide with the holding of the two-day national executive meeting of the BJP in Patna on June 12-13, 2010 which brought into open long-existing dissensions and differences between the ruling alliance partners and brought the 15-year old ties to almost breaking point.

The BJP decided to test its strength by launching the Gujarat Chief Minister during the meeting with the full knowledge that the move would not be liked by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The move was seen as a challenge to Nitish in his own turf.

In a well-thought out strategy, the BJP had planned to launch Modi in Patna and accordingly a media campaign was prepared.

Big advertisements, seeking to rebrand Modi making him acceptable to non-RSS constituency, were released in the Bihar media. The BJP, which is never tired of repeating the mantra of "Coalition Dharma, apparently did not consult the Bihar Chief Minister or the JD (U) leadership.

Obviously, Nitish Kumar was livid and he chose to maintain a distance.

The BJP leadership had declared that it would focus on price rise, Naxalism and terrorism, but the party ended up in Patna provoking Nitish months before the Assembly elections.

On June 12, 2010, Nitish cancelled a dinner he was to host for the BJP leaders attending the national executive meeting apparently miffed over a series of full page ads that appeared in vernacular dailies showing him with Modi hands clasped in a victory sign.