BJP, JD-U meet over Bihar issue

By VENKAT PARSA

New Delhi

May 25: Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav on Sunday called on NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate L.K. Advani to sort out the simmering differences between the alliance partners, who run a coalition government in Bihar.

The BJP leaders in Bihar rushed to the capital to voice their grievances, but the BJP leadership put the issue on hold till the Karnataka Assembly election results.

With the poll results declared, the top-brass of the BJP and JD(U) met to sort out the differences between the two parties.

With differences between the BJP and its key alliance partner Janata Dal (United) threatening to snowball into a major crisis, the meeting assumed significance as the focus was on ironing out the differences. The discontent in the BJP camp after last month’s Cabinet reshuffle in Bihar, which saw two BJP ministers being dropped, is also understood to have figured in the talks.

Clearly, the focus was on putting the issue behind them and to forge ahead to prepare for the upcoming parliamentary elections. Mr Yadav and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar held closed-door confabulations with Mr Advani at his 30, Prithviraj Road residence here, where BJP president Rajnath Singh was also present.

The meeting came in the backdrop of serious bickering within the NDA with JD(U) complaining that BJP was poaching on its leaders in Karnataka, where the two parties fought against each other in several seats. After the meeting, Mr Singh and Mr Kumar said that both the parties were focusing on the coming Lok Sabha elections, which they will fight together. Both leaders said, "We will sort out any irritant that may arise."

Mr Kumar said that the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere and the strategy to fight the next elections jointly was discussed.

The JD(U), which drew a blank in the Karnataka Assembly elections after going it alone, following the BJP refusal to meet its demand for 25 of the 224 seats, congratulated the saffron party on its victory.