Nitish Kumar & Sushil Modi | The unique relationship - Business Standard

What seemed like a trouble-free 17 year long association between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United), including 7 years in state government, was not without its own set of 'cut throat political games' between chief minister Nitish Kumar and deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi.   Although the two prominent leaders have stayed in alliance for the past 17 years only, the political heavyweights from Bihar have known each other for the last 40 years when they were fighting against Congress party in 1973 which was being led by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Both Kumar and Modi later went to jail for standing up against emergency but they were jailed in different places. "Between Nitish Kumar and Sushil Kumar Modi, the Bihar chief minister has always been a winner because he has backing of some of the senior leaders of the BJP who promoted him rather than their own BJP member. In March 2000, when Nitish Kumar was made the chief minister, his party only had 35 MLAs while BJP had 65 MLAs yet BJP leadership chose to name Kumar as the chief minister rather than having its own chief minister in Bihar. That was the first setback for Modi in the 17 year long alliance. Nitish Kumar was already a minister at that time in the NDA government," said a senior BJP leader who knows both Nitish Kumar and Sushil Kumar Modi. However, Kumar's first chief ministerial stint was short-lived and he had to vacate the seat in 7 days as he was unable to prove his majority in the assembly.   In another such incident in 2004 when Modi suffered a brutal setback because of Nitish Kumar was in 2004 after the merger of Janata Dal led by Sharad Yadav, Samata Party and Lokshakti Party. Sushil Kumar Modi who was playing the role of Leader of Opposition in the assembly with the support 55 BJP MLAs was made to vacate his seat by Nitish Kumar. "Sushil Kumar Modi had been Leader of Opposition and since NDA was already in existence there was no need for Modi to vacate the seat. Yet after the merger, the newly formed party Janata Dal (United) had 56 MLAs in the assembly and BJP had 55. With the difference of just one MLA, Nitish Kumar had met the Speaker and demanded that LoP should be of JD(U)," the BJP leader pointed out. Senior BJP leaders said that Modi had been Leader of Opposition since 1996 and some of the senior leaders of JD(U) were not in mood to replace him in the assembly, yet Kumar insisted and went ahead with the decision.   "People who have stood by Nitish Kumar have always suffered losses because of his political ambition. George Fernandes's ticket was cancelled because of Kumar. Shivanand Tiwari was one of the founding members of JD(U) and had to leave the party because of Kumar. he returned to the JDU later," said BJP leader said. Many in the BJP liken the relationship between Modi and Kumar as one between Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani: where egoes didn't matter and one of the two partners agreed to suspend his political growth for the sake of the coalition and the relationship. The consensus is that Modi lost more. Modi yet again came to the rescue of Nitish Kumar in November 2005 after Janata Dal (United) and BJP won the assembly election defeating Lalu Prasad Yadav after tenure of 15 years. "While late Digvijay Singh and George Fernandes were mulling over the possible chief minister choice and BJP too had not made up its mind, Sushil Kumar Modi had announced the name of Nitish Kumar opposing all senior leaders both in JD(U) and BJP," the senior leader said. via Top Stories - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFG4AO4mHpja4ARzPVxzW-WTCuLfw&url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/politics/nitish-kumar-sushil-modi-the-unique-relationship-113061500503_1.html

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