Patna: In a major political development that is sure to rile the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a former party MLC joined the ruling Janata Dal(United) in Bihar on Tuesday. Former BJP MLC Sanjay Jha joined the JD(U) at a function held at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's official residence in Patna.
Several senior JD(U) leaders including state president Vashistha Narayan Singh and Food & Consumer Protection minister Shyam Rajak were present on the occasion. JD(U) said that the former MLC's decision to join their party would have no adverse impact on the ties with the BJP.
Jha's induction into the JD(U) is sure to sour the relations between the two parties, who are ruling Bihar, further as he is considered to an influential Brahmin leader and had been denied ticket to contest the Lok Sabha election in 2009 from Darbhanga by the BJP even though he is considered to be close to BJP leaders Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.
Even though the BJP nominated Jha to the Bihar Legislative Council, it was believed that he was not happy with his position in the party. Nitish can use Jha to lure more BJP leaders into the JD(U)'s fold and weaken it in Bihar.
Jha quitting the BJP to join Nitish's party is significant as the two National Democratic Alliance (NDA) constituents have been at loggerheads in the past few weeks over several issues. The Bihar Chief Minister had launched a veiled attack at BJP leader and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and made it clear that the prime ministerial candidate of the NDA should be secular.
While Nitish had not taken Modi's name, his target was seen to the Gujarat Chief Minister who has been accused of not doing enough to stop the communal riots in his state in 2002. Nitish's statement on a secular prime ministerial candidate made during an interview to a financial daily led to a war of words between the JD(U) and the BJP.
The parties also differed over the presidential candidate and decided to go separate ways. While the JD(U) decided to support the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance candidate Pranab Mukherjee, the BJP backed former Lok Sabha Speaker PA Sangma.
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