Senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi said the party did not support Adityanath’s views and his statement on ‘Love-Jihad’ was his personal view.
“We have nothing to do with Adityanath’s stand on ‘Love-Jihad’ because BJP has not officially used the word,” Modi said.
Modi also downplayed issue raised by Adityanath saying the BJP would give more tickets to Muslims in the next state assembly polls due in 2015.
A BJP legislator close to Modi said here that he was trying to play safe by portraying a moderate face. The BJP wants to distance itself from the hardliner as the Muslims in the state accounted for 16.5 percent of the total population.
But not all BJP leaders are ready to toe Modi’s line. BJP MP from Nawada and a vocal supporter of Hinduvta -- Griraj Singh, said that he was proud of what Adityanath had said.
Singh without naming Modi said that those opposing Adityanath had a perverted mindset. “It is wrong to speak against Adityanath when he is raising a genuine and serious issue,” Singh said.
Differences over Adityanath’s ‘Love-Jihad’ campaign in the state has exposed the infighting in the BJP.
BJP state spokesperson Vinod Narayan Jha said that party was against forcible conversion and there were no differences within the party over it. “In a democratic party like our, individual leaders are free to to express his or her views,” Jha said.
Political watchers say the infighting in the Bihar BJP surfaced after its defeat in last months bypolls.
According to some BJP leaders, a section of powerful leaders, who are Bhumihars, Yadavs and from EBCs (economically backward classes), are opposed to Sushil Modi's projection as the chief ministerial candidate in the next assembly polls.
Image: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi