Patna, June 22
In a move likely to put the BJP
in a dilemma, senior party leader and former union minister C.P. Thakur
on Monday said he was ready to be chief ministerial candidate in the
run-up to the Bihar assembly elections.
"I am ready to take the responsibility of the chief minister's post if the BJP projects me," the BJP's Rajya Sabha member said.
Ananth
Kumar, who is in charge of the Bharatiya Janata Party's affairs in
Bihar, on June 16 announced that the party will not announce its chief
ministerial candidate for the assembly elections - slated for
September-October - and instead fight the electoral battle in the name
of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On Sunday, the BJP's ally
Rashtriya Lok Samata Party passed a resolution to demand that its party
chief and union minister Upendra Kushwaha be made the NDA's chief
ministerial candidate in the state.
In his early 80s, Thakur
belongs to the powerful landed upper caste Bhumihars, who are said to be
overwhelmingly backing the BJP in post-Mandal politics in the state.
In
fact, speculation in political circles here is that the BJP may change
its earlier stand of not announcing its chief ministerial candidate.
"The
BJP is likely to announce the name of former deputy chief minister
Sushil Kumar Modi as the chief ministerial candidate soon," a BJP leader
close to Sushil Modi said.
Sushil Kumar Modi, who is from a
backward caste, is the most influential face of the BJP in Bihar and
commands respect even among the upper castes, say some leaders.
However,
the former Bihar deputy chief minister's disadvantage lies in the fact
that two BJP leaders from the backward caste are dead set against him.
Since
last year, a powerful group of upper caste leaders in the BJP has been
opposing the projection of Sushil Modi as the chief ministerial
candidate.
According to BJP insiders, Thakur's statement is a
reflection of a deep-rooted tussle between leaders of upper castes and
other backward castes (OBCs) within the party.
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah are said to be taking steps
to ensure that none of these leaders is allowed to dominate the public
debate till the polls, fearing it may anger either of the groups and
cause a loss to the party's social support base.
"The BJP in
Bihar is a divided house. To project a leader from either the OBCs or
the upper castes as a chief ministerial candidate will antagonise the
other group. The BJP is not in a position to project any one person
against Nitish Kumar, who was declared chief ministerial candidate by
the alliance of Janata Dal-United, Rastriya Janata Dal, the Congress and
National Congress Party," said a senior BJP leader, who did not wish to
be named.
Another BJP leader said that the BJP was sure of its
traditional base of upper castes remaining intact in Bihar. Its worry
was now to consolidate the backward castes after RJD chief Lalu Prasad
joined hands with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
In the
caste-ridden Bihar politics, there are over half a dozen leaders from
the upper castes and the backward castes who have staked claims as chief
ministerial candidate of the BJP. "All of them are lobbying hard," the
BJP leader said.
In Bihar, all election arithmatic relies on
castes. Most parties also lean on backward castes, Dalits and Muslims.
Even the Congress, till its infl
