Tie-up with JD(U) hit, BJP woos federal front

With the alliance with JD(U) under a cloud over the rising national profile of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, the BJP on Thursday showed distinct signs of being soft on the fledgling federal front. HT reports.

With the alliance with JD(U) under a cloud over the rising national profile of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, the BJP on Thursday showed distinct signs of being soft on the fledgling federal front.

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“The NDA coalition of 23 parties didn’t give regional parties a reason to worry,” BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday. “But under the UPA, the overall environment of treatment to states ruled by non-Congress parties has been step-motherly.”

The BJP’s tone was that the federal front was a natural BJP ally and ranged against UPA.

Significantly, BJP leaders had earlier dismissed the idea of a third front, insisting that the polity was bipolar. But with Nitish Kumar’s anticipated exit, the NDA will have only three parties: BJP, Shiv Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal.

In such a scenario, the NDA cannot be a fulcrum for forming a government without wooing parties outside UPA and NDA combines.

The BJP’s federal pitch—once a votary of a one-nation, one-culture principle — is aimed at opening doors for business with the federal front, or more specifically, components of the front if the BJP has a good tally and wants to take a shot at power.