Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is unlikely to campaign for the Bihar assembly polls 'as his magic need not work at every place', senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj said on Monday.
At the same time, Swaraj made it clear that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had not imposed any condition on the issue of Modi campaigning. She said that it would be better if the 'old arrangement' continued under which Modi had not campaigned during the 2005 Bihar assembly polls and the 2009 general elections.
"Modi's magic and charisma have worked in Gujarat, but it is not necessary that everybody's magic works at every place. In Bihar, the magic of Nitish Kumar and Sushil Kumar Modi is at work, and we are confident of our victory for carrying forward development," Swaraj told reporters.
"Nitishji has put no condition before us on whether or not Narendra Modi should campaign in Bihar. The decision on who should or should not campaign in Bihar has been the sole discretion of the BJP," she said.
On the recent statement of the chief minister that the ideology of the Janata Dal - United was different from that of the BJP, she said, "If the ideology of both parties were similar, then both would have merged into one party. Kumar has been right in his stand that though the ideologies of the two parties are different, we have worked together keeping in view the Common Minimum Programme for governance and delivered the goods."
Swaraj said the National Democratic Alliance in Bihar represented an example of 'gatbandhan dharma' (coalition politics). She said that the Congress' charge that Gujarat was 'a laboratory of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh' was one out of frustration.
"The Congress has faced a complete rout in elections to urban and rural bodies in Bihar and is making baseless allegations," Swaraj said.
