NEW DELHI — The chasm between the Janata Dal-United (JD(U)) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got wider this week, with the saffron party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) taking Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar head-on over his “secular prime minister” diktat. If Nitish's comments that the prime ministerial candidate of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) should have a seacular image left any ambiguity that he was referring to Narendra Modi, JD(U) leader Shivanand Tiwari made it clear that his party would opt out of the alliance if the Gujarat chief minister's name was projected, thus upping the ante. Rather than backing down in the face of JD-U's ultimatum, the beleaguered BJP raised its pitch and bluntly told Nitish not to issue certificate of secularism. The Sangh too jumped in the verbal duel and openly endorsed Modi's candidature, saying India's prime minister should be a person who subscribed to the Hindutva ideology. The war of words played out in public has taken the alliance between the two coalition partners to the brink of a breakpoint. Backing Nitish to the hilt, Tiwari said the NDA could not hope to come back to power at the center with a “fanatic face” as its leader. “The BJP will have to decide whether it wants to form a government or remain in the opposition as the country is not in favor of a fanatic face,” Tiwari said. He went on to add that his party was not ready to compromise on its principles. “It does not matter whether we are in the NDA or outside it. We will not compromise on the principles on which JD(U) had joined the alliance in 1996,” Tiwari said. “We are not even bothered if the Bihar government falls on this issue.' Tiwari's plainspeak followed RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's outburst against Nitish. Addressing a gathering of Sangh volunteers in Latur, Bhagwat accused the Bihar chief minister of playing vote bank politics. Meanwhile, Nitish's stand has fueled speculations over his motive to raise the issue at this juncture. Political observers believe that his anti-Modi stance is part of his gameplan to keep himself in the reckoning for the prime minister's post in the event of a fractured mandate in the 2014 polls, though Nitish has categorically denied harboring such ambitions. — Agencies
