NEW DELHI: The BJP is ready to mollify Nitish Kumar, who recently appeared to have given some anxious moments to the Bihar ally by his ‘iftar’ gesture.
Ahead of the presidential elections due in July, the senior partner in the ruling NDA is ready to change the state party in-charge: it is going to be BJP’s Dharmendra Pradhan, Nitish’s favourite, replacing Bhupendra Yadav.
The proposed replacement is aimed at improving the BJP’s ties with the Bihar CM as both Pradhan and Nitish share good rapport.
Nitish’s JD-U support is crucial for the victory of the NDA nominee in the Presidential election, BJP sources said. Nitish is reportedly miffed with Bhupendra Yadav’s silence over state BJP leaders’ frequent pinpricks against him.
The situation has come to such a pass that party MP Chhedi Paswan has demanded that a BJP leader should be CM for the remaining twoand- a-half-year tenure of the NDA rule in the state.
Nitish had earlier accused Bhupendra Yadav of conspiring against him and propping up Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai as the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate.
Both Yadav and Rai belong to the same community.
“Bhupendra Yadav and Nitish are not on good terms these days. Moreover, the BJP’s humiliating defeat in the Bochaha by-election is seen as a result of the lack of coordination between the two allies,” said a senior BJP leader.
Pradhan visited Patna after Nitish skipped a meeting of chief ministers called by the Union Law Ministry in Delhi early this week. The state BJP leaders had no inkling of his visit to Patna.
It is expected that Pradhan would be able to ‘normalise’ the relationship as none of them can afford to allow their ideological differences to reach a flashpoint.
Pradhan was a Rajya Sabha member from Bihar and the BJP’s election in-charge for 2019 Lok Sabha and the state polls.