New Delhi, Apr 14: Virtually vetoing Narendra Modi, JD(U) today gave an eight-month deadline to its ally BJP to declare its Prime Ministerial candidate having "secular credibility beyond doubt" for the next general elections.
Setting conditions for NDA's PM nominee, the party in a strongly worded political resolution at its National Council meeting here said the candidate should be someone like Atal Bihari Vajpayee or otherwise it will have "negative results".
The resolution said the PM candidate of the alliance should be named before the end of this year.
"JD(U) is of clear view that NDA's Prime Ministerial candidate's name is declared before elections....It has clear views on what kind of Prime Ministerial candidate should be there. He should be committed to the national agenda of governance of NDA and the earlier decided position on the three issues (Ram Temple at Ayodhya, abrogation of Article 370 and Uniform Civil Code).
"His image should be such that his secular credibility in a multi-religious and multi-lingual country like India should be beyond doubt. He should be in favour of inclusive politics and committed and sensitive towards the development of backward states and regions," the resolution said.
Since BJP is the largest party in NDA, it was its "duty" to "keep in mind" these things before announcing its PM candidate, it said.
"JD(U) demands that based on these parameters, BJP must announce its Prime Ministerial candidate by the end of this year as has been the tradition in the past," the resolution said.
Addressing the meet, which began yesterday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, known for his antipathy towards the Gujarat Chief Minister, said, "There is a need for Atal Bihari Vajpayee-like thinking to govern this country. Atalji always used to say follow your Rajdharma...If our view is ignored, then we will take a step."
He said, "Compromises are made in politics but there are certain fundamental principles. Compromising with secularism to remain in power, no we will never do it.
"We cannot compromise with our basic principles. We want the train to be on track but if the train derails, we will decide according to the situation and time as to what to do. Who has seen tomorrow?," Kumar said.
Citing the case of Bihar where the NDA alliance led by him is in power for more than seven years, Kumar said, "Why will we go for genetic modification when the crop is in pink of health? Negative results are bound to happen if one makes an attempt of genetic modification when there is no need."
Kumar, who is also considered a Prime Ministerial probable, however, ruled himself out of race, saying he does not nurse any such "illusion" with such "little" strength of his party, but made it clear that he would prefer for the top job a leader who carries all sections of the society together.
"Nobody should think that the country can be run by force...Sometimes you will have to wear a cap, sometimes you will have to sport a 'tilak'. This country is like this," Kumar said in the backdrop of an earlier controversy involving Modi, when the Gujarat Chief Minister had refused to put on a skull cap given by a Muslim cleric in Gujarat.
Alluding to the "Rajdharma" comment made by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Modi after the post-Godhra riots, Kumar said while somebody could run one state in "this or that manner", it is difficult to govern the whole country like that.
In the backdrop of Modi's recent address at public forums drawing analogies of a Modi versus Rahul Gandhi battle for 2014, Kumar said some people can create a so-called wave, "but this country is not run by such waves".
In a veiled reference to the political polarisation in the country after the Gujarat riots, party president Sharad Yadav said, "In 2004, Atalji asked how could I, too, lose elections, I told him you also know the reason."
While assuring the partymen that the "difficulties" that have cropped in within NDA in recent period will be sorted out, Yadav made it clear, "Our alliance is 17-years-old. We want to run this alliance."
Making a strong case for declaring NDA's PM candidate before elections, the resolution said BJP had declared Vajpayee's name for Prime Ministership before the elections in 1999 and 2004 and that of L K Advani before 2009.
JD(U), in a separate resolution, authorised Yadav and Kumar to take any decision on the party's behalf keeping in view the 'special circumstances' of the political situation.
Lauding Vajpayee, Kumar said it was his personality that NDA got one ally after another and the government did well.
"Now, if there is an attempt to change the track, difficulties will occur. When a national agenda came, everything was decided. From where the new things come? The country is full of diversity and only a leader who carries with him all these diverse sections can be the leader of the nation," he said.
"We want to go along. When did we say, we wanted to quit the alliance," the Bihar Chief Minister said.
He also drew the analogy of Emergency, saying, "We cannot have a model of development, which does not take everybody along. Nobody can run this country by force. An attempt to apply force was made by imposing Emergency. What happened thereafter?
"...Indira Gandhi was such a powerful leader and the country rejected her. Nobody should think that this country can be run by force," Kumar said.
Noting that there has been a tradition in NDA to name its Prime Ministerial candidate before Lok Sabha elections, the resolution said, "In this context, it is the clear view of JD(U) that NDA's PM candidate's name should be announced before polls since the Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to take place between March and May next year."
A day after JD(U) described Congress as "enemy" party, the resolution hit out at the UPA government, saying people are "fed up" with the policies of the ruling alliance at the Centre.
It recalled that the NDA government had taken many steps for the welfare of people and price rise was kept in check.
"The political scenario in the country is very disappointing. The governance system is on the brink of collapse due to the weakness of the UPA government. There is a constant decline in the credibility of the institutions and political values," it said.
The resolution said, "Corruption is in news and unemployment and price rise have rendered people poorer and the gap between the rich and the poor has widened. The inequality between the developed and the backward states has increased.
"A tension has come in the federal structure of the country because the Centre has hurt the autonomy of the states by violating their rights in an unprecedented manner."
Expressing confidence that people will "throw out" the UPA government, it said, "Time has come now that NDA again makes a strategy so that it gets a majority in the next Lok Sabha polls and the tenure of good governance (Sushashan) comes again."
The resolution hoped that the government will be ousted in 2014 paving the way for another government, which can check corruption, free people from unemployment and price rise, create an atmosphere of development in the country and restore economic growth.
It also hoped that the next government will establish a healthy Centre-state relationship as per the established principles of the Constitution and re-establish the country's prestige at the international level besides raising a ray of hope "among all sections and communities" in the country.
Going down the memory lane, the resolution recalled that Samata Party and BJP had allied in 1996 and also participated in the 1998's NDA government under an agreement on the three contentious issues -- that the Uniform Civil Code will not be implemented, Article 370 will not be abrogated and the solution to Ayodhya issue will be done either through mutual agreement or a court decision.
It also recalled that JD(U) became a part of NDA in 1999 and worked in the government under a National Agenda of Governnance and gave a clean government.
