LK Advani, Iron Man of BJP, left to rust, charges Nitish Kumar

Mangalore Today/NDTV

Patna, Sep 16, 2013:  After acutely fighting his party’s decision to name Narendra Modi its choice for Prime Minister, LK Advani today endorsed the move publicly, offering praise for the Gujarat Chief Minister at a rally.

However, Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar, was on standby with a kilo or two of salt for Mr Advani’s wounds. "Advani ji was once the Iron Man of the BJP," he said, "today, he has been left to rust."

Mr Advani was isolated and unequivocally over-ruled last week by his party after he warned of "political disaster" as a consequence of declaring Mr Modi the prime ministerial candidate. The
BJP went ahead with its announcement on Friday. Mr Advani stayed at home.

Mr Kumar has denigrated the BJP’s decision as a poor move which will prevent other parties from joining it to form a strong coalition that can challenge the Congress-led UPA that is currently in power.

In June, Mr Kumar ended a 17-year partnership with the BJP after the party chose Mr Modi to lead its campaign. He said that was a pre-emptive strike because the BJP, despite demurrals, was clearing the path for Mr Modi to run for the country’s top job. For months, Mr Kumar and his party, the Janata Dal(United), had warned that would be a deal-breaker because like other detractors, they accuse Mr Modi of being a divisive leader who allowed hundreds of Muslims to be killed on his watch in Gujarat in 2002.

At the time, Mr Advani had also opposed the BJP’s decision to place Mr Modi in charge of its national campaign. He skipped a conference in Goa where that promotion was announced.