Modi-Nitish meet: Will BJP-JD(U) bury the hatchet and join hands?

For Prime  Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who have been at loggerheads since the former was chosen as the prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the meeting on Thursday, as a Times of India report  stated, was “remarkably comfortable.” Thursday’s face-to-face meeting of the two politicians was the first in almost a year. Last June, the JD(U) had decided to break its alliance with BJP after the party decided to field Narendra Modi as their PM candidate. Since then there has hardly been a moment of peace or harmony between the two parties or leaders. [caption id=“attachment_2177007” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “] Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with PM Narendra Modi. Image courtesy: PIB[/caption] The Bihar CM met with Modi and took up financial issues of the state. At a press conference prior to their meeting, Bihar Finance Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav pointed out that the personal equation between two individuals need not have a bearing on discharge of official duties. PTI quoted Yadav as saying, “In the context of Nitish and Modi, it would be a routine thing when the two leaders meet each other as the Chief Minister and the Prime Minister and not as Nitish and Modi.” During Thursday’s meeting, according to The Times of India report, Nitish got undivided attention of the Prime Minister when he spoke about special status for Bihar and asked about the promise made in the budget for extending financial assistance on the lines of Andhra Pradesh. Nitish and Modi never enjoyed a good relationship post the 2002-Gujarat riots, even though their parties were in alliance. Kumar had since refused to share a dais with Modi. When Kumar was the chief minister heading the BJP-JD(U) coalition, he had called off a dinner for visiting BJP leaders in June 2010 after a photograph of Modi holding hands with him at a BJP national executive had appeared in some local newspapers in the state. After the Lok Sabha elections of 2014, while Modi became the Prime Minister, Nitish quit as chief minister owning responsibility for the party’s crushing defeat in those elections in Bihar as the BJP-led NDA virtually decimated it bagging 31 of 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state. While the Prime Minister’s Office dubbed Thursday’s meeting as a “courtesy call,” political circles are abuzz with speculations and possible political realignment in the future, especially with the state assembly elections in the offing. According to our correspondent Manoj Kumar , the RSS is reportedly trying to broker peace between the two parties and its leaders. According to Manoj Kumar, “RSS is believed to have suggested that the BJP go for rapprochement with Nitish Kumar if it wants to perform well in the assembly elections in the state.” After the humiliating defeat in Delhi, the Sangh thinks that the popularity Modi enjoyed eight months ago is depleting. “Thus the best bet is to keep Nitish in good humour.” But according to BJP’s Bihar unit, the bitter past that the two parties shared is too strong to ignore. Speaking to India Today,  sources in the party’s state unit said that the buzz was created by JD(U) itself because it wanted to come back to the BJP. “We won 22 seats in the Lok Sabha polls and fared well in other elections as well. Why would BJP want to join hands with Nitish? It is completely impossible because of the fact that even voters will not accept such kind of opportunistic politics,” a BJP leader from Bihar told India Today on the condition of anonymity. The leader also added that the post of chief minister will be another contentious issue. Political equations in Bihar are changing too. After reviving the Janata Parivar, Lalu and Nitish seem to be stuck in a rut and the plan for the third front hasn’t gone anywhere in the past few months. The RJD chief and Nitish have been famously holding separate programmes in Bihar, especially in February when Nitish was on a fast while Lalu held a protest march opposing the Centre’s amendments to the Land Bill. Lalu also attacked Nitish over his government’s inaction in the mass cheating case during matriculation examination earlier this month. According to the Firstpost report, this could be an RSS ploy to alienate Nitish from his allies. “According to them, the RSS used similar tricks to cause split between Nitish and Manjhi who now has formed his own front. ‘Perhaps, the BJP strategists feel fighting Nitish alone could be more electorally fruitful than fighting Nitish-Lalu together,’ said a political expert.” However, BJP cadre and leaders do not see this happening. According to them, Nitish has made a mess out of Bihar in the past 22 months. “Why should we go with the number two party in the state? Moreover, it was Nitish who dumped us,” BJP leader and party’s chief spokesperson Vinod Narayan Jha told Firstpost. But even after RSS’ prodding, if at all the BJP and JD(U) bury the hatchet and join hands for the upcoming elections, will it boost their chances or make the situation worse?