Patna: After dissidence in Karnataka, a
section of BJP MPs and MLAs in Bihar have revolted against
their party leader and Deputy Chief Minister S K Modi for his
reported statement intending to cover sharecroppers under the
Kisan Credit Card Scheme.
"Modi`s statement advocating kisan credit cards for
sharecroppers is irresponsible and will harm the party`s
interests," senior BJP leader and state Minister for
Cooperative Giriraj Singh said.
BJP Rajya Sabha member and former Union Minister C P
Thakur said the NDA, which is yet to recover from the
humiliating defeat in the by-polls to 18 Assembly seats in the
state in September last, is "now in for yet another crisis".
"The statement will make the situation explosive and will
have impact on the party while the opposition will reap
advantage on the issue," Thakur said, adding that the party
wants Modi to "clarify his position immediately".
A section of MLAs and MPs, who met at the residence of
former state Health Minister C M Rai here last evening,
resolved to press for resignation of Modi.
"Modi`s leadership has become weak and it will be better
to replace him with a new face in the larger interest of the
party," senior party MLA Rameshwar Choudharasia said.
The meeting, attended among others by senior party MLAs
Amrendra Pratap Singh, Rameshwar Choudhrasia, Bhupendra Narain
Singh and Ramayan Manjhi, called for holding an emergency
meeting of the state executive of the party to discuss the
situation.
Party sources said that a group of legislators and MPs
would soon visit New Delhi to apprise the BJP national
leadership of the development and demand removal of Modi as
leader of the BJP Legislature Party and also from the post of
deputy chief minister.
A group of party leaders, including Rai, are also unhappy
over the alleged inordinate delay by BJP to fill up the
vacancies in the Nitish Kumar ministry after election of some
of their colleagues to the Lok Sabha.
Modi, however, appeared confident and said he had not
talked about issuing kisan credit cards to sharecroppers.
Asked to comment on the demand of the dissidents, Modi
said, "I am not aware of their move."
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has ruled out bringing a
legislation in keeping with the recommendations of the D
Bandopadhyay commission on land reforms for protecting
sharecroppers even as the Opposition mounted pressure on him
to clarify his stand on the issue.
The CPI-ML has called a state-wide bandh on November 24
to press for implementation of the recommendations of the
commission.
Bureau Report
