PATNA: Startling allegations of backstabbing were made against the BJP by MLAs and MPs of the JD(U) on Tuesday at a meeting here after which Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar pulled the plug on the alliance.
According to sources in the JD(U), who did not wish to be named, information, including call details, were shared which suggested that former national president RCP Singh, who resigned from the primary membership last week, had contacted "about a dozen MLAs and a minister at the BJP's behest, with the intention to split the party".
The JD(U) lawmakers, who unanimously backed Kumar's decision to dump the BJP, were of the view that things went fine till the 2019 Lok Sabha polls which the two parties, along with late Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party, had swept, winning all but one of the 40 seats in the state.
"However, the BJP changed its colours once the assembly polls of 2020 approached. It was clearly behind the rebellion of Chirag Paswan who openly spoke of dislodging Nitish Kumar and fielded his candidates, many of them so-called rebels of the BJP, in all seats the JD(U) contested," the sources said.
They also alleged that RCP Singh, who was then the national general secretary (organisation), had tried to ensure defeat of many JD(U) candidates whom he did not like.
Paswan's brinkmanship, coupled with Singh's alleged role, indeed, proved costly to the JD(U) a lot as its tally plunged to 43, from 71 in the 2015 assembly polls which the party had contested in alliance with the RJD and the Congress.
Singh went on to clinch a berth in the Union cabinet a few months after Kumar returned as chief minister for yet another term.
His induction, however, did not have the approval of Kumar, the party's de facto leader, and he was denied another Rajya Sabha term which caused him to resign.
The JD(U) leaders also complained of "non-cooperation" by ministers belonging to the BJP, which had a lion's share in the cabinet owing to the saffron camp's superior numerical strength in the Assembly.
The chief minister, on his part, is also said to have noted with dissatisfaction statements by "prominent BJP leaders who kept undermining his leadership".
Soon after Kumar made the move, Union minister Giriraj Singh, known to be a detractor since his days as a defiant member of the state cabinet, vented his spleen.
"It is no surprise that Nitish has chosen Muharram to betray us. What better occasion could he have for sacrifice (qurbaani) of his principles and promises," Singh told reporters.
Former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi on Tuesday dismissed JD(U)'s allegations that the BJP wanted to break the party and made RCP Singh Union minister without Nitish Kumar's consent.
He further said JD(U) was looking for an excuse to break ties with BJP, and underlined that "BJP will come back to power with a thumping majority in 2024."
"It is a white lie that BJP had made RCP Singh Union minister without Nitishji's consent. It is also a lie that BJP wanted to break JD(U)," Modi said in a tweet.
Singh was made Union minister last year as JD(U) representative but forced to resign last month as his Rajya Sabha term ended and his party denied him another term.
Earlier in the day, Singh also tweeted expressing similar sentiments saying that JD(U)'s snapping of ties is a "betrayal of the mandate of 2020 given by the people of Bihar in favour of NDA."
Modi, now Rajya Sabha MP, enjoyed a good rapport with Kumar while serving as his deputy for many years.
BJP also accused him of being a "habitual betrayer" who was pushing Bihar into the abyss of lawlessness and corruption by entering into a fresh alliance with the RJD.
In a statement issued after core committee meeting at the state headquarters, the party announced that it will stage massive protests (mahadharnas) against the "betrayal" by the JD(U) leader across all districts on Wednesday which will be followed by agitations at the block level a day later.
Modi, who had served as Kumar's deputy for more than a decade and is considered as his most trusted man in the BJP, accused the former boss of telling "blatant lie".
"It is a blatant lie that BJP had made RCP Singh a minister without the consent of Nitish ji. Another lie is that the BJP was trying to split the JD(U). He was looking for an excuse to break ties. The BJP will return to power with a thumping majority in 2024," Modi tweeted.
Notably, Kumar had cited a "unanimous sentiment" in his JD(U) as the reason behind making the sudden move.
His party's ties with the BJP, though dating back to the 1990s, barring a four years hiatus that began with his first breaking away in 2013, have been chequered.
However, in the recent past the two parties squabbled on a whole range of issues though the tipping point, according to JD(U) sources, came with alleged attempts of RCP Singh, a former national president who has for some time come to be seen as "BJP's man", to split the party.
At a press conference here soon after Kumar met the governor, along with RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad accused the chief minister of inconsistency in his beliefs.
"You talk about communalism but you aligned with us in the 1990s when the Ayodhya movement was at its peak. You fought with us against Lalu Prasad on the issue of his involvement in fodder scam. In 2013, your personal dislike for Narendra Modi made you leave us and join hands with the RJD president", Prasad said.
"You left the RJD in 2017 after Tejashwi Yadav's name cropped up in a corruption case. You are now pushing Bihar back into the era of lawlessness and corruption which you claimed credit for bringing the state out of," alleged the Patna Sahib MP.
Speaking at the same press conference, state BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal alleged that Kumar was a "habitual betrayer" ('aadatan dhokhebaaz') who will be punished by the people of Bihar for betraying the "mandates of 2019 (Lok Sabha polls) and 2020 (assembly elections)".
Kumar had, upon tendering his resignation before Governor Phagu Chauhan and staking claim to form a new government, spoken obliquely of the BJP's role in propping up RCP Singh against him though he was blunt in criticising "the policy of social divisiveness", an obvious reference to Hindutva.
The 71-year-old had laughed off queries as to whether his move was aimed at realising prime ministerial ambitions, having in the past been seen as a potential rival to Narendra Modi.
Standing by his side, Tejashwi Yadav said, "We leave it (prime Ministerial ambition) for him to decide but he deserves praise for taking the courageous decision to dump BJP on a day which marks the anniversary of the launch of Quit India Movement, a veritable fight against tyranny."
"BJP president J P Nadda had the temerity to say all parties, except his, will be wiped out from the country. He uttered these words during his visit to the state recently. Bihar has answered the BJP back," asserted the young RJD leader.